Tawny Emperor

About the Tawny Emperor

The Tawny Emperor is the warmer, richer cousin of the Hackberry Emperor -- glowing orange-brown above where the Hackberry runs gray, and missing the bold black-and-white forewing eyespot pattern that marks its relative. Both are children of the same tree: wherever a Texas hackberry stands, an emperor court usually holds session in its shade.

Emperors have the most un-butterfly-like manners in the family. They ignore flowers almost entirely, feeding instead at sap runs, fallen fruit, and mud -- and they are famous for landing on people, sipping sweat with complete self-assurance. A Tawny Emperor on your knuckle is a normal afternoon under a hackberry in July.

Caterpillars feed communally on hackberry leaves and overwinter in rolled-leaf shelters, which is why the same tree produces emperors year after year, generation stacked on generation.

This one was photographed on July 8, 2023 in eastern Travis County woods, holding a head-down perch on bark in classic emperor fashion. Look for that pose -- an orange butterfly parked head-down on a trunk is an emperor before you ever check the field marks, and bark-perched butterflies give you all the time in the world to compose.