A Rare Life Butterfly: the American Snout

American Snout

The American Snout is a rare-to-uncommon butterfly in Ontario which, like the Monarch butterfly, breeds here but is unable to survive the winter. It is a tropical butterfly, found as far south as Argentina, and its permanent range reaches only as far north as the southern United States. However, it is strongly migratory, and southern populations in the U.S. undertake large-scale migrations through most of the eastern United States and into southern Canada each breeding season. It is found regularly in the Carolinian Zone of southwestern Ontario, with strays reaching as far north as Algonquin Park, Manitoulin Island and Ottawa, where it was found each year at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden in the years between 2008 and 2012. I never went to see them there, and thought if I ever wanted to add this species to my life list I would have to look for this butterfly in southern Ontario.