Well, it is definitely a hairstreak, but I am not sure it is a gray, unless there is a variation in the patterns from area to area. All the grays I have seen have had continuous bands, not broken patterns like yours. They also have one red spot, not two side by side. The markings on yours have a little more character.

It looks like a striped, except the marks are more like spots, and it looks like a banded, but they are more brown here. It looks most like a banded, based on the two red spots and the third, dark spot on the wing.

That is a great picture.

Grouperman,

That is exactly what I was thinking too. I came across the hairstreak ID looking at different websites and I also noticed the difference in the patterns. When I first saw this butterfly I thought it was a Cabbage White but then I saw it flutter away and noticed the top side was a blue or greyish color.

Glad you liked the pic...if you're interested I have a couple more pics of common butterflies I photographed in my garden in Chicago this year.

Red Admiral

Monarch Butterfly

Black Swallowtail

Small Cabbage White

Thanks for the quick reply.

This small butterfly is the Eastern Tailed-Blue. They have very small tails just like the Hairstreaks.

Yep, if you saw blue, it's probably a blue, a different gossamer-winged butterfly.

We don't get the eastern-tailed here. I did not know that they had red eye spots until I looked it up just now. It looks just like a hairstreak.

Our blues all have a much busier pattern on the ventral wings, and they don't have tails. Sorry if I confused you.

Thank you both for the help. I've been trying to find the ID myself for weeks with no success. I really appreciate it.

"Small Cabbage White" may be over-doing it a bit for the common name on P. rapae.

Neither Peterson East or West Guidebook mentions "small".
Pyle, who is quite thorough, includes "small white", as does the Audubon Guide.

This forum seldom uses "small cabbage white", and it is outnumbered by "cabbage white" in a google search by 101,000 to 800. The use of "small" in Wikipedia will probably increase the 800 count in the future.

Although calling it "Cabbage Butterfly" seems too obvious, it does help educate people away from the most common name for P. rapae, "Cabbage Moth", that is not included in butterfly guides!

By any name, it is still just as white, and not to be confused with the "small-veined white".

This forum seldom uses "small cabbage white", and it is outnumbered by "cabbage white" in a google search by 101,000 to 800. The use of "small" in Wikipedia will probably increase the 800 count in the future.

So how do you differentiate between P. rapae and P. brassicae? Are they both not "cabbage" and white?

Here is a link that might be useful: RHS-org-uk Cabbage caterpillars

The difference is geographic. Nearly all references to P. brassicae are European. The butterfliesandmoths.org website (formerly the USGS site), shows the Large White as occuring in one New York location, and the only major guidebook to include it, Peterson's East, lists it way in the back as a "theoretical species of Eastern North America".

It is interesting that of these two prolific butterflies, only P. rapae is rampant in the U.S. while P. brassicae remains "theoretical"!

You didn't answer my question. How do you differentiate between P. rapae and P. brassicae? My blog doesn't have any geographical boundaries. You see the thing about the internet is that people from around the world can find and access information. So I feel like me using "small cabbage white" is appropriate since people from around the world visit my blog.

And what is interesting is that before 1860 P. rapae was also "theoretical" on this continent.

But this forum has 99+% U.S. posters. And many of them will confirm that I give the Cabbage White a "hard time"!

I don't know if a species can be "theoretical" on a continent before it is introduced there!

There is certainly room on this forum for European butterflies, thanks for sparking my interest to do some research on these two whites.