I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I have no idea when and how I learned about these butterflies! I just know that when I saw them today, my brain dredged up the name “mourning cloak”. I even googled them this afternoon, thinking I might find a website that looked familiar. I found lots of nice references, like this one, but nothing I could call my original source.

So I don’t have a coherent answer for your question. As much as I detest forgetting things like this, I have forgotten my first introduction to these particular beauties. It’s kind of frightening, this tendency toward forgetting…