Types of Butterflies in Vermont

On this page

1. Butterflies found in Vermont
2. Butterflies of Vermont at a glance
3. Signature Vermont butterflies
4. The Vermont butterfly calendar
5. Where to see butterflies in Vermont
6. Host plants and butterfly gardening in Vermont
7. Rare and threatened butterflies in Vermont
8. How to identify a butterfly in Vermont
9. Frequently asked questions

Butterflies of Vermont at a glance

Vermont is a northern state with a northern butterfly list. The Vermont Butterfly Survey, a five-year volunteer atlas run by the Vermont Center for Ecostudies from 2002 to 2007, confirmed 103 species, and a second atlas now under way is adding a handful more as southern butterflies push north.

The state's eight biophysical regions each have a flavour. The warm Champlain Valley in the west, with its clay-plain farms, hackberry shorelines and limestone, holds the most species; the Green Mountains carry northern browns, commas and tortoiseshells up to the spruce-fir zone, and the cold Northeast Kingdom keeps black-spruce bogs where the Bog Elfin and Bog Copper live.

The brush-footed butterflies are the largest family, with three big fritillaries, the admirals, five overwintering commas and tortoiseshells and the Monarch. The blues, coppers, elfins and hairstreaks come next, then a short list of whites and sulphurs, five swallowtails and the duskywings and grass skippers.

Signature Vermont butterflies

The Monarch has been the state butterfly since 1987 and is the one species every Vermonter knows: it arrives from the south in late May, raises two or three broods on the common milkweed of hayfields and roadsides, and leaves again in a visible stream down the Champlain Valley in early September.

The Canadian Tiger Swallowtail is Vermont's own tiger, smaller than the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and flying in a single brood in late May and June. The two meet and hybridise across central Vermont, the Eastern species taking the warm valleys and the Canadian the hills and the north. The Black Swallowtail is the garden swallowtail on dill and parsley.

The White Admiral, the northern race of the Red-spotted Purple, is the black-and-white banded butterfly of birch and poplar woods; the two forms blend in southern Vermont, where intermediate individuals with faint white bands are common. The Great Spangled, Aphrodite and Atlantis Fritillaries are the big orange butterflies of July meadows, all three raised on violets, and the smaller Meadow Fritillary flies in the same fields from May. The Baltimore Checkerspot, orange, black and white, is a wet-meadow butterfly worth a special search in late June.

The northern tortoiseshells give Vermont its distinctive spring. The Mourning Cloak, Compton Tortoiseshell, Milbert's Tortoiseshell and the Eastern, Gray and Green Commas all spend the winter as adults and fly on the first warm days of April, often over snow.

The Vermont butterfly calendar

The Vermont butterfly year is short and compressed. April belongs to the hibernators, the Mourning Cloak and Compton Tortoiseshell on sap runs and the commas along sunny woodland roads. In early May the Spring Azure, the elfins, the Mustard White and the West Virginia White emerge with the spring ephemerals, and by the end of the month the Canadian Tiger Swallowtails and the first Monarchs have arrived.

June brings the Baltimore Checkerspot, the Silver-bordered Fritillary, the coppers and the first big fritillaries. July is the peak: skippers in every hayfield, hairstreaks on milkweed and dogbane, the Northern Crescent and Pearl Crescent along every road, the White Admiral in the woods and the Atlantis Fritillary in the mountains.

August is the month of the Painted Lady, American Lady and Red Admiral, migrants that bred here in summer, and of the Monarch's last generation. From late August to mid-September Monarchs move south through the Champlain Valley and over the ridges, and after the first hard frost only the tortoiseshells and a few late sulphurs are left, into October. Where the rest go is explained in our guide to where butterflies go in the winter.

Where to see butterflies in Vermont

The best butterfly ground in Vermont is unmown grassland with a wet edge, and much of it is on public wildlife land.

• Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area, Addison — Champlain Valley marsh and old fields for the Baltimore Checkerspot, Bronze Copper, Viceroy and September Monarchs.
• Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge, Swanton — floodplain forest and marsh on Lake Champlain for the Hackberry Emperor, Question Mark and Eastern Comma.
• Green Mountain National Forest — logging roads and beaver meadows for the Atlantis Fritillary, Green Comma, Pink-edged Sulphur and Early Hairstreak, whose caterpillars feed on beech.
• Victory Basin and the Northeast Kingdom bogs — black spruce and cranberry bogs for the Bog Elfin in late May and Bog Copper in July.
• The Taconics and Vermont Valley around Rutland and Bennington — oak hillsides for the Banded, Edwards' and Southern Hairstreaks.

Vermont shares almost its whole list with New Hampshire and New York, and its northern species continue into Quebec, covered on our page for butterflies in Canada.

Host plants and butterfly gardening in Vermont

With a growing season this short, a Vermont butterfly garden depends on hardy native host plants and on nectar that keeps flowering into the September migration.

• Common and swamp milkweed — Monarchs; a patch left to spread in a corner is the single most useful planting in the state.
• Black cherry, birch, aspen and ash — Canadian and Eastern Tiger Swallowtails; aspen and birch also feed the White Admiral, Viceroy and Mourning Cloak.
• Dill, parsley, carrot and golden alexanders — Black Swallowtail.
• Violets — all four fritillaries; turtlehead — Baltimore Checkerspot.
• Nettle — Red Admiral, Milbert's Tortoiseshell, Eastern Comma and Question Mark.
• Clovers, vetch and alfalfa — Clouded and Orange Sulphurs and the Eastern Tailed-Blue; wild indigo — Wild Indigo Duskywing and the rare Frosted Elfin.

For nectar, lilac and dame's rocket carry May, milkweed, bee balm and Joe-pye weed the summer, and New England aster and goldenrod the migration; a lawn mown less often, with its clover and hawkweed, feeds more skippers than any flower bed.

Rare and threatened butterflies in Vermont

Vermont's rarest butterflies are tied to habitats that were never common. The Frosted Elfin, listed as threatened by the state, and the Persius Duskywing, listed as endangered, both need dry, sandy openings with wild lupine or wild indigo, a habitat that has almost vanished from the Champlain Valley. The Bog Elfin, Bog Copper and Bog Fritillaries survive only in intact peatlands, and the Early Hairstreak, which spends most of its life in the beech canopy, is rarely seen anywhere.

The West Virginia White is a quieter casualty. It lays its eggs on native toothworts in rich spring woods, but the invasive garlic mustard attracts the females and kills the caterpillars, and the butterfly has thinned out wherever the weed has spread. The Regal Fritillary, once a Champlain Valley butterfly, has been gone from Vermont for decades.

The Monarch is the most visible concern. Its eastern population has fallen by around 80 per cent since the 1990s, and in December 2024 the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing it as threatened. Vermont's contribution is the milkweed in its hayfields, which is why late mowing is now encouraged.

Butterflies found in Vermont

76 species listed for Vermont, grouped by family. Linked names have a full profile on this site with pictures of every life stage.

Brush-Footed (Nymphalidae)

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• Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax)
• White Admiral (Limenitis arthemis arthemis)
• Atlantis Fritillary (Speyeria atlantis)
• Silver-bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene)
• American Snout (Libytheana carinenta)
• American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis)
• Compton Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis vaualbum)
• Gray Comma (Polygonia progne)
• Green Comma (Polygonia faunus)
• Harris' Checkerspot (Chlosyne harrisii)
• Northern Crescent (Phyciodes cocyta)
• Tawny Crescent (Phyciodes batesii)

Gossamer-Winged (Lycaenidae)

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• Harvester (Feniseca tarquinius)
• Brown Elfin (Callophrys augustinus)
• Henry's Elfin (Callophrys henrici)
• Eastern Pine Elfin (Callophrys niphon)
• Bog Elfin (Callophrys lanoraieensis)
• Nothern Azure (Celastrina lucia)
• Cherry Gall Azure (Celastrina serotina)
• Bog Copper (Lycaena epixanthe)
• Bronze Copper (Lycaena hyllus)
• Coral Hairstreak (Satyrium titus)
• Striped Hairstreak (Satyrium liparops)
• Banded Hairstreak (Satyrium calanus)
• White “M” Hairstreak (Parrhasius m-album)
• Edwards' Hairstreak (Satyrium edwardsii)
• Hickory Hairstreak (Satyrium caryaevorus)
• Acadian Hairstreak (Satyrium acadica)
• Southern (Oak) Hairstreak (Satyrium favonius)
• Early Hairstreak (Erora laeta)

Whites and Sulphurs (Pieridae)

• Mustard White (Pieris oleracea)
• West Virginia White (Pieris virginiensis)
• Pink-edged Sulphur (Colias interior)

Swallowtail (Papilionidae)

Skipper (Hesperiidae)

+ Show all 8 other skipper species names

• Columbine Duskywing (Erynnis lucilius)
• Common Sootywing (Pholisora catullus)
• Dreamy Duskywing (Erynnis icelus)
• Hoary Edge (Achalarus lyciades)
• Juvenal's Duskywing (Erynnis juvenalis)
• Northern Cloudywing (Thorybes pylades)
• Persius Duskywing (Erynnis persius)
• Wild Indigo Duskywing (Erynnis baptisiae)

How to identify a butterfly in Vermont

Vermont's short list makes identification easier than in most states. A large yellow butterfly with tails is a tiger swallowtail, Canadian if it flies in a single June brood in the hills, Eastern if it keeps flying into August in the valleys. A large orange butterfly with silver spots below is a fritillary; one with black veins and no silver is a Monarch or, if it has an extra black line across the hindwing, a Viceroy. A black butterfly with a white band is the White Admiral, and without the band, in the south of the state, the Red-spotted Purple.

Small orange-and-black roadside butterflies are the crescents; small blues are the azures and the Eastern Tailed-Blue; the tiny greys, browns and coppers on milkweed are hairstreaks, elfins and the American Copper. The skippers are the moth-like browns with hooked antennae, the Silver-spotted Skipper the only large one. A few names on the state list are strays, not residents: the California Tortoiseshell, Variegated Fritillary, Long-tailed Skipper, Little Yellow and Pipevine Swallowtail wander in only in some years. See the hub for butterflies of the United States for the neighbouring states.

Frequently asked questions about Vermont butterflies

What is the official state butterfly of Vermont?

The Monarch (Danaus plexippus) has been Vermont's state butterfly since 1987. It breeds on the common milkweed of the state's hayfields and roadsides from late May to September, and the last generation of the year migrates through the Champlain Valley in early September on its way to the mountains of central Mexico.

How many species of butterfly are found in Vermont?

The Vermont Butterfly Survey of 2002 to 2007 confirmed 103 species, and a few more strays have been recorded since, so the state list stands at roughly 105 to 110. Around 60 are common and widespread; the rest are bog, mountain and lupine specialists, rare wanderers such as the California Tortoiseshell, or species with only a handful of Vermont sites.

When is the best time to see butterflies in Vermont?

July is the peak month, when fritillaries, hairstreaks, crescents, sulphurs and skippers are all flying in uncut meadows. Hibernating Mourning Cloaks and commas appear in April, Canadian Tiger Swallowtails swarm on gravel roads in June, and the Monarch migration passes through the Champlain Valley from late August to mid-September before the first frost ends the season.

Which migratory butterflies pass through Vermont?

The Monarch is the great migrant, arriving in late May and leaving in September. The Painted Lady, American Lady, Red Admiral and Question Mark also move north into Vermont each spring, breed over the summer and drift south again in autumn, while the Variegated Fritillary, Little Yellow and Long-tailed Skipper are occasional southern strays that cannot survive the winter.

Are Mourning Cloak butterflies found in Vermont?

Yes, the Mourning Cloak is common across Vermont and is usually the first butterfly of the year. It hibernates as an adult in hollow trees and woodpiles and flies on warm days in late March and April, often over snow, feeding on sap and willow catkins. Its caterpillars feed in groups on willow, aspen and elm.

What types of fritillary butterflies live in Vermont?

Vermont has three large fritillaries, the Great Spangled, Aphrodite and Atlantis, all orange with silver spots beneath and all raised on violets, flying from late June to August. The smaller Meadow and Silver-bordered Fritillaries fly in wet meadows from May, and the Variegated Fritillary is a summer stray from the south.

Are there small blue butterflies in Vermont?

Yes. The Spring Azure, Summer Azure, Northern Azure and Cherry Gall Azure are a group of small sky-blue butterflies that between them fly from late April to August in woodland edges, and the Eastern Tailed-Blue, with tiny tails and orange spots on the hindwing, is common in clover and lawns. The Silvery Blue is a scarcer spring species on vetch.

What is the difference between the White Admiral and the Red-spotted Purple in Vermont?

They are two forms of a single species, Limenitis arthemis. The White Admiral, the northern form, is black with a broad white band across both wings and is the usual form in most of Vermont; the Red-spotted Purple, blue-black without the band, mimics the Pipevine Swallowtail and dominates further south. In southern Vermont the two interbreed and intermediates with faint white bands are common.

Which butterflies are rare or protected in Vermont?

The Frosted Elfin is listed as threatened and the Persius Duskywing as endangered under Vermont's endangered species law, both tied to lupine and wild indigo on sandy ground. The Bog Elfin, Early Hairstreak and West Virginia White are species of conservation concern, the Regal Fritillary is gone from the state, and the Monarch has been proposed for federal protection.

What is the largest butterfly in Vermont?

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is the largest, with females reaching about 14 centimetres across, followed by the Canadian Tiger Swallowtail, the Black Swallowtail and the Great Spangled Fritillary. The Giant Swallowtail is only a very rare wanderer this far north. The smallest Vermont butterflies are the Eastern Tailed-Blue and the Bog Elfin, each barely two centimetres across.

Published January 8, 2020 · Last updated September 21, 2026