{"id":73176,"date":"2020-08-25T05:57:41","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T11:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=73176"},"modified":"2026-03-14T18:12:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T23:12:02","slug":"male-checkered-white-butterflies-on-thistles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/25\/male-checkered-white-butterflies-on-thistles\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Checkered White Butterflies On Thistles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Checkered White butterfly nectaring on a thistle \u2013 <\/em>Nikon D810, f16, 1\/800, ISO 500, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

A while back I came across some butterfly photos that I had taken on July 19, 2015 that I hadn’t processed or identified so recently I went about finding out what species of butterfly I had photographed. I already knew that they were from the family of Whites, Yellows and Sulphurs because of their shape. People often call them by the name “Cabbage Butterflies” because some of these butterflies do feed on plants in the cabbage family while they are in are their caterpillar stage of life.<\/p>\n

I was able to narrow down and identify some of the butterflies I took photos of that day to being Checkered Whites and I found out that the butterflies in my images were males.<\/p>\n

\"CheckeredCheckered White Butterflies on thistles \u2013 <\/em>Nikon D810, f13, 1\/1250, ISO 500, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The male Checkered White butterflies were actively nectaring from thistle plants that were next to the auto tour route at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a>.There are two male Checkered Whites in this photo. I am not sure of the ID of the third out of focus butterfly at the back of the thistles but I know it is also in the same family.<\/p>\n

The last time I was at the refuge I saw some white butterflies but wasn’t able to stop and take photos of them. I wish now that I had been able to at least scope them with my lens to see if they were Checkered Whites because I would have enjoyed being able to get photos of a few females. The females are more heavily patterned than the males.<\/p>\n

Maybe I will be able to get back to the refuge to check them out before these lovely butterflies are gone.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Stay safe.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my insect and spider photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A while back I came across some butterfly photos that I had taken on July 19, 2015 that I hadn’t processed or identified so recently I went about finding out what species of butterfly I had photographed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171899,"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":[124,1148,10351,26],"tags":[4004,5576,6041,6042,10358,10359,4062,6044,10354,10360,10361,2315,6626,6624],"class_list":["post-73176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-checkered-white-butterflies","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-auto-tour-route","tag-butterflies","tag-butterfly","tag-checkered-white","tag-checkered-white-butterfly","tag-male","tag-nectaring","tag-pontia-protodice","tag-southern-white","tag-southern-white-butterfly","tag-summer-3","tag-thistle","tag-thistles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/checkered-white-butterfly-male-thistles-mia-mcpherson-6767.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-j2g","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":141156,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/03\/04\/checkered-white-butterfly-on-a-black-eyed-susan-in-oklahoma\/","url_meta":{"origin":73176,"position":0},"title":"Checkered White Butterfly On A Black-eyed Susan In Oklahoma","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"It isn\u2019t really spring yet, but I\u2019ve already seen a bee, flies, moths, and butterflies. They reminded me of this Checkered White butterfly I photographed last year.","rel":"","context":"In "Black-eyed Susans"","block_context":{"text":"Black-eyed Susans","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/trees-shrubs-and-flowers\/wildflowers\/black-eyed-susans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Checkered White butterfly on a Black-eyed Susan, Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge, Johnston County, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-eyed-susan-checkered-white-butterfly-mia-mcpherson-3264.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-eyed-susan-checkered-white-butterfly-mia-mcpherson-3264.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-eyed-susan-checkered-white-butterfly-mia-mcpherson-3264.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-eyed-susan-checkered-white-butterfly-mia-mcpherson-3264.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":128507,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/05\/13\/common-checkered-skipper-butterfly-at-tishomingo-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":73176,"position":1},"title":"Common Checkered-Skipper Butterfly At Tishomingo NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm sharing this Common Checkered-Skipper butterfly photo I took two days ago at Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge. 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