Beside the parking lot for a tiny woodlot park in Oakville Ontario, an extremely healthy patch of Buttercups burst into a mass of blossoms in early June 2025. As part of my plan to list the plants of this park on iNaturalist, I went to look at the Buttercups to try to decide what kind they were: and I discovered the flowers were dancing under the feet of a dozen sunshine-happy butterflies.
A Cool Slow Spring Makes a Tough Start for Spring Butterflies
One reason I think so many butterflies were visiting this one patch of brilliant colour and food may be the slow start spring has had in Oakville in 2025. This was the first warm (above 21C) sunny day in over a week. The butterflies decided to make the most of the weather to look for potential mates–and they were tanking up on nectar to give them an energy boost after using so much of their reserves on the cold windy days.
This Common Ringlet, close in size to a familiar Cabbage White butterfly, spurned the buttercups in favour of a larger Dandelion.
Are All of These Small Orange and Brown Butterflies Flying in June the Same Type?
One of the great things about digital cameras is that you can take a lot of photos for the same basic cost as one. With a film camera, I could not afford to take a dozen photos of a butterfly hoping one would be in focus and let me clearly see its markings to identify it. With a digital camera, I can. So I can now take photos of every small orange and brown butterfly I see on the buttercups and decide later if they are different types.
This side-view of the underside of the wings, shows this is a Tawny-edged Skipper. That’s what they call that streak of orange along the top of the wing.
This butterfly has quite a different pattern on the underside of the wings. To me, I see the paler colour as forming a roughly capital H shape. This is a Peck’s Skipper. They live in my back yard so I see them regularly throughout the spring and summer.
This Tawny-edged Skipper is in a “classic” pose. The two “fore” wings are partly closed showing the tawny orange edge. The two “hind” wings are kind of curved and show no particular markings.
This one is also a Tawny-edged: you can see the orange edge on the left “fore” wing and the plain unmarked “hind” wing on the right side. But yes, it has more tan or light ‘spots’ than the previous Tawny. That’s because this is a female.
This one looks pretty similar–except a second ago when its wings were folded up, you would have seen the H because this is that exact some Peck’s skipper shown further up. If you can see it, there are also markings on the “hind” wing on the right side: it is not plain like a Tawny-edged hind wing. But this is why I prefer to get photos of butterflies’ wings upper and undersides. Otherwise I am not always able to tell which is which.
This is a Tawny-edged approaching another butterfly. There were lots of interactions going on but I didn’t see anyone actually find a partner.
Is This a European Common Blue or a Silvery Blue Butterfly on the Buttercups?
A week or so ago, I had a Silvery Blue butterfly landing repeatedly on the wheel of my Mom’s rollator walker which I was using to brave the trail at Fletcher’s Creek Ecological Preserve. So when I saw two sky-bright-blue butterflies zigzagging around the buttercup patch, I wasn’t sure at first what kind they were. Luckily one landed.
The orange on the underside markings showed it was a European Common Blue, not a Silvery Blue.
It soon took flight again.
Then a third one landed.
This one has lots of black and orange markings along the edges of top sides of the hind and fore wings and is much less blue. It’s a female European Common Blue butterfly. They are almost grey on top rather than the really bright pure blue of the males.
Silvery Blues do not have any markings on the top like this. They just have a black edge to their upper wings. (Eastern Tailed-Blues have only a few orange and black markings on the hind wings and they have ‘tails’ on the hind wings. Northern Azures don’t usually have orange markings on top and often have a sort of white and black alternating pattern along the edge.)
What Type of Buttercups Were Blooming in Early June in Oakville Ontario?
Not all Buttercup flowers are showy.
In the actual woodlot another type of Buttercup is also in bloom. Its flowers, though, are tiny and easily overlooked. The leaves at the base of the plant are also quite different because they are vaguely round and look somewhat like violet leaves. Their name is Kidneyleaf Buttercup and they are native plants. Personally, I don’t think the lower leaves are kidney shaped but then I am not a doctor so who knows!
These particular parking lot Buttercups appear to be non-native Common or Tall or Meadow Buttercups. They don’t have any spots or patches of a lighter colour on the leaves like Creeping Buttercups. The little green ‘leaves’ (sepals) on the back of each flower form a little cradle for the yellow petals and do not arch away from the petals like they do on Bulbous Buttercups.
Common or Tall or Meadow Buttercups growing beside the parking lot.
I think they are growing so abundantly and densely because of the cool, slow, not-too-dry spring and possibly because the parks department may have used some fertilizer when they re-seeded the area after some construction in 2022. I have no idea if they will repeat their showy butterfly-enticing display next year, but I hope so!
Related Reading
Join In
Did you spot butterflies on a sunny day? Were any of them on flowers? Please share your experience with a comment.