Currently on the DEC trails of Camp Saratoga North and Old Gick Farm, you will find little brown butterflies dancing among the newly sprouted lupine leaves. No, they aren't moths. This is the frosted elfin butterfly. Why are we so excited about this critter? This seemingly unremarkable butterfly is listed a threatened species in the state of New York. A butterfly that once stretched from Quebec to Wisconsin, this species is entirely extirpated in many areas and threatened in most others. Sharing the same host plant as the Karner blue butterfly, the frosted elfin shares the same misfortune with loss of habitat that the wild blue lupine requires in order to grow.

Seeing this butterfly in the Saratoga Sandplains is an indicator that the endangered Karner blue butterfly will soon be here! Take a hike and look for this amazing species!

Photo: Frosted Elfin on Blue Lupine by Wayne Jones