Finding Utah Butterflies-->Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta rubria)

Overview:

Similar to Painted Ladies, Red Admirals migrate north every spring into Utah. Finding this butterfly flying around our neighborhoods is never consistent during the summer months. However, it is possible to spot a male once or twice a summer during the late afternoon hours in July as males will sometimes bask and patrol in the filtered sunshine of our back yards and parks. Red Admiral males will sometimes exhibit this territorial behavior a few miles from where females lay eggs on stinging nettle growing near rivers.

I have found Red Admiral butterflies to be the most consistent along the Provo River Parkway, again, in association with stinging nettle. As a matter of fact, the best way to insure finding Red Admirals is to locate and rear the larvae.

Note: To leverage the next section and fly to specific locations, you need to install Google Earth.

Specific Localities:

Provo River Parkway, Provo, Utah County, Utah.  N40 14'16.13" W111 43'49.63" or click here.
Upper Lambs Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah. N40 43'0.55" W111 37'22.91" or click here.
Big Cottonwood Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah. N40 38'9.72" W111 41'53.60" or click here.
South Willow Canyon, Tooele County, Utah. N40 29'37.96" W112 34'48.04" or click here.
Taylor Canyon, Ogden, Weber County, Utah. N41 12'55.88" W111 55'34.51" or click here.

Flight Periods:

Red Admirals generally fly from June through August.

Raising Caterpillars Resources:

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3mDFBsvm0  
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYTPaOlAVt0  
Raising Butterflies: http://www.raisingbutterflies.org/red-admiral/
Raising Butterflies: http://www.raisingbutterflies.org/vanessa-atalanta-rubria/  

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