{"id":136405,"date":"2024-11-07T02:41:40","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T08:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=136405"},"modified":"2024-11-06T17:20:42","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T23:20:42","slug":"question-mark-butterfly-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/11\/07\/question-mark-butterfly-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Question Mark Butterfly At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been meaning to share this Question Mark butterfly I photographed at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/sequoyah\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a> since last month. Today is as good a day as any.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-136396 size-full\" title=\"Adult Question Mark butterfly\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/question-mark-butterfly-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3980.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/question-mark-butterfly-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3980.jpg\" alt=\"Adult Question Mark butterfly, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/question-mark-butterfly-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3980-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/question-mark-butterfly-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3980-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/question-mark-butterfly-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3980-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/question-mark-butterfly-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3980-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/question-mark-butterfly-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3980-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/question-mark-butterfly-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3980-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/question-mark-butterfly-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3980-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/question-mark-butterfly-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3980.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Adult Question Mark butterfly \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 800, -1.0 EV, Canon 100-400mm at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I was actually hoping to see and photograph more Question Mark butterflies before cold weather set in, so I could share more photos of this spectacular species. Unfortunately, I haven\u2019t seen any more this fall.<\/p>\n<p>For now, I have only this one photo in my Question Mark Butterfly Images gallery. Hopefully, that will change next year.<\/p>\n<p>I believe the butterfly was resting on a hackberry bush; at least, that\u2019s what the leaves of the bush look like to me.<\/p>\n<p>The gender of this Question Mark butterfly will remain a mystery because this species does not exhibit clear sexual dimorphism. Male and female butterflies of this species look quite similar, making them challenging to distinguish based solely on appearance.<\/p>\n<p>There are some behavioral indicators for gender, but this butterfly simply stayed put, wasn\u2019t laying eggs, and wasn\u2019t acting territorial.<\/p>\n<p>Their name comes from a small white \u201cquestion mark\u201d on the underside of their hindwings.<\/p>\n<p>This stunning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inaturalist.org\/taxa\/58579-Polygonia-interrogationis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Question Mark<\/span><\/a> butterfly caught my eye while I was walking down one of the many side roads at the refuge. Although the area was dimly lit due to nearby trees and clouds overhead, the butterfly glowed like a beacon.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll be looking for these butterflies for a few more weeks, then continue searching for them once spring arrives next year. As brightly colored as they are, Question Mark butterflies seem challenging to find. The good news is that I can train my eyes to spot them.<\/p>\n<p>Life<em> is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/insects-and-spiders\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my insect and spider photos plus facts and information about them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been meaning to share this Question Mark butterfly I photographed at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge since last month. Today is as good a day as any. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":136396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13973,15923,13974],"tags":[4004,970,14190,13984,6041,6042,4620,1799,15930,15928,15929,4156],"class_list":["post-136405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oklahoma","category-question-mark-butterflies","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-bottomland-hardwood-forest","tag-bottomlands","tag-butterflies","tag-butterfly","tag-fall","tag-insects","tag-polygonia-interrogationis","tag-question-mark","tag-question-mark-butterfly","tag-resting"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/question-mark-butterfly-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-3980.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-zu5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":132509,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/08\/16\/more-new-butterflies-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":136405,"position":0},"title":"More New Butterflies At Sequoyah NWR!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, when I shared the pale young Raccoon, I mentioned that I also photographed some butterflies at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge. Here they are!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Oklahoma&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Oklahoma","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pipevine Swallowtail next to the Arkansas River, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pipevine-swallowtail-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-1350.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pipevine-swallowtail-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-1350.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pipevine-swallowtail-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-1350.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pipevine-swallowtail-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-1350.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":153170,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/08\/22\/cooperative-pearl-crescent-butterfly-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":136405,"position":1},"title":"Cooperative Pearl Crescent Butterfly At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"While walking one of the side roads at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge yesterday, I found a cooperative resting Pearl Crescent butterfly.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Oklahoma&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Oklahoma","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Pearl Crescent butterfly at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pearl-crescent-butterfly-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-7223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pearl-crescent-butterfly-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-7223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pearl-crescent-butterfly-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-7223.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pearl-crescent-butterfly-sequoyah-NWR-mia-mcpherson-7223.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":158419,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/09\/29\/resting-hackberry-emperor-butterfly-in-oklahoma\/","url_meta":{"origin":136405,"position":2},"title":"Resting Hackberry Emperor Butterfly In Oklahoma","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Late last week I was glad to have a resting Hackberry Emperor butterfly in my viewfinder for a few moments at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hackberry Emperor Butterflies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hackberry Emperor Butterflies","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/hackberry-emperor-butterflies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hackberry Emperor butterfly resting on a leaf, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hackberry-emperor-butterfly-fall-mia-mcpherson-8982.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hackberry-emperor-butterfly-fall-mia-mcpherson-8982.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hackberry-emperor-butterfly-fall-mia-mcpherson-8982.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hackberry-emperor-butterfly-fall-mia-mcpherson-8982.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":154511,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/09\/06\/blooming-climbing-milkweed-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":136405,"position":3},"title":"Blooming Climbing Milkweed At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago, I took my first Climbing Milkweed photos near where I photographed a resting Viceroy butterfly at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Climbing Milkweed&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Climbing Milkweed","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/trees-shrubs-and-flowers\/wildflowers\/climbing-milkweed\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blooming Climbing Milkweed in Oklahoma, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/climbing-milkweed-mia-mcpherson-7588.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/climbing-milkweed-mia-mcpherson-7588.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/climbing-milkweed-mia-mcpherson-7588.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/climbing-milkweed-mia-mcpherson-7588.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":135270,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/10\/05\/red-spotted-purple-butterfly-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":136405,"position":4},"title":"Red-spotted Purple Butterfly At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Sharing my lifer Red-spotted Purple butterfly! I took photos of it on a nature trail at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, where I found it resting on the path.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Oklahoma&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Oklahoma","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-spotted Purple butterfly on a nature trail, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Red-spotted-Purple-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-9720.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Red-spotted-Purple-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-9720.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Red-spotted-Purple-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-9720.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Red-spotted-Purple-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-9720.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":135139,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/09\/29\/clouded-skipper-butterflies-things-with-wings\/","url_meta":{"origin":136405,"position":5},"title":"Clouded Skipper Butterflies &#8211; Things With Wings","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago, when I shared Huron Sachem skipper butterfly images I said I needed to identify another butterfly. That butterfly was a Clouded Skipper butterfly.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Arkansas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Clouded Skipper butterfly nectaring on sedum blooms, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/clouded-skipper-butterfly-akansas-mia-mcpherson-6481.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/clouded-skipper-butterfly-akansas-mia-mcpherson-6481.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/clouded-skipper-butterfly-akansas-mia-mcpherson-6481.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/clouded-skipper-butterfly-akansas-mia-mcpherson-6481.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}