![\"Upright](\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Gray-Hairstreak-Strymon-melinus-mia-mcpherson-2452.jpg\" "\\"Upright")
Upright Prairie Coneflower and a Gray Hairstreak butterfly<\/span><\/p>\nI took these photos last spring at Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. Wildflowers bloomed in wonderful, wild abandon, drawing countless insects, including Gray Hairstreak butterflies.<\/p>\n
Other insects enjoying the wildflowers included beetles, bees, wasps, moths, ants, and even plenty of spiders.<\/p>\n
Hairstreak butterflies are generally small which can make them hard to spot and photograph. With patience and skills it can be fun because photographing them is<\/em> a challenge.<\/p>\n Gray Hairstreak butterflies primarily feed on nectar from flowers, but their caterpillars feed on a variety of plants. Here are some of the types of plants that Gray Hairstreak caterpillars and adults interact with:<\/p>\n Gray Hairstreak Caterpillar Host Plants:<\/strong><\/p>\n Gray Hairstreak Adult Nectar Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n These plants are important for supporting the lifecycle of Gray Hairstreak<\/span><\/a> butterflies, providing both food for the caterpillars and nectar for the adults.<\/p>\n Planting native trees, wildflowers, shrubs, and vines helps butterflies and insects immensely. Even a few of these in a single yard can make a difference. Together, we can make a huge impact!<\/p>\n Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n Mia<\/p>\n Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Gray Hairstreak butterfly photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my flower, shrub and tree photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Butterflies are rapidly declining in North America, so I\u2019m photographing and sharing them often. Today, I\u2019m sharing Gray Hairstreak photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15124,15144,13973,15021],"tags":[4004,6098,6557,7353,13985,13984,6041,6042,15098,15033,1124,6518,15125,15127,15128,6044,6509,15032,12971,165,15126,15057,15031,4307,5063],"class_list":["post-142553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gray-hairstreak-butterflies","category-johnston-county","category-oklahoma","category-tishomingo-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-adult","tag-blooming","tag-blooms","tag-blossoms","tag-bottomland-hardwood-forests","tag-bottomlands","tag-butterflies","tag-butterfly","tag-coneflower","tag-coneflowers","tag-field","tag-flowering","tag-gray-hairstreak","tag-hairstreak","tag-hairstreaks","tag-nectaring","tag-orange-wildflowers","tag-ratibida-columnifera","tag-red-wildflowers","tag-spring","tag-strymon-melinus","tag-tishomingo-nwr","tag-upright-prairie-coneflower","tag-wildflowers","tag-yellow-wildflowers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t![\"Gray](\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Gray-Hairstreak-Strymon-melinus-mia-mcpherson-2503.jpg\" "\\"Gray")
Gray Hairstreak butterfly on a wildflower<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Spring](\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Gray-Hairstreak-Strymon-melinus-mia-mcpherson-2507.jpg\" "\\"Spring")
Spring Gray Hairstreak butterfly on a Upright Prairie Coneflower<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\n
![\"Gray](\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Gray-Hairstreak-Strymon-melinus-mia-mcpherson-2515.jpg\" "\\"Gray")
Gray Hairstreak butterfly nectaring on an Upright Prairie Coneflower<\/span><\/p>\n