Skipper Time!

 

I love these little butterflies...today there were two of them flying together, on and off of the plants. Too cute!

Butterfly Buffet

 

All sorts of butterflies really seem to love this gomphrena plant...

Fly Away

 

This monarch butterfly couldn't, well, fly. At first. She fluttered but couldn't lift off. If you look closely, on the right side the hind wing was on top of the forewing, for reasons unknown. Unlike the butterfly in my latest monarch post, this one shows no signs of age/wear, which makes me wonder if perhaps it is newly hatched...

I decided to move her onto this pentas plant so at least she could get some nutrition from the nectar; she very happily began to feed. When I came out an hour or so later, there was no sign of her, so I assume (hope!) that she somehow managed to fly away. They are toxic to birds--and the birds know it and do not try to consume them--so there isn't really another explanation.

This is before I moved her to the plant...she went for a walk up my arm.

The next day, there was a monarch fluttering around the yard--I like to think that it was this butterfly coming back for a victory lap. 

Bedraggled But Beautiful

 

This lovely monarch has definitely been through some things: it is missing part of a hind wing and its wing scales are scratched and worn. It--and it is a male ("dots" on hind wings identify it as such)--is still very beautiful. And it has found the "Monarch Magic" ageratum plant at the nursery!

Lemony

 

This beautiful lemony butterfly--maybe a sulphur?--was having trouble flying and walking; it kept falling over onto its side and could only flutter, not fly. It had all of its parts and its wings were in pretty good shape, so I'm not sure what might have been wrong. 

We moved it onto a plant in hopes it could drink some nectar. A bit later, it was still walking around so I put on a different plant and left it (after it walked all the way up my arm!) Later still, I couldn't find it, so I hope it managed to fly away to live another day.

Visiting

Remember these lovely caterpillars? This is the beautiful butterfly they turn into. This one was visiting the parsley laying more eggs...more caterpillars, more butterflies!

Hungry Hungry

 This is a truly beautiful caterpillar, shown here decimating some parsley. It will become a swallowtail butterfly soon...

Little Lovely

 

This butterfly is a Common Buckeye. Despite "common" being in the name, I'm not sure I have ever seen one in our yard. One of its wings is quite tattered, so it has definitely been through some things. Fly, little butterfly, fly!

Monarch on the Way

 

So exciting...you can see the edge of the wing there on the right...

Battered Beauty

 

This monarch lovely has been through it...check out the holes in her wings. They are amazing creatures.

Complementary

 

Purple and yellow are right across from each other on the color wheel...

Obsessed

OK, so I might be a bit obsessed with these lovelies...

Ahoy, Skippers

 

This gomphrena plant is attracting multitudes of little skippers...so cute!

Also Fab

 

Skippering

 

Sweet little skipper...

Check out its proboscis here!

Still Beauty

 

I found this beauty lying on the sidewalk. You can tell it had been through some stuff (missing area on its wing). I think it is a Western swallowtail butterfly, but it seems a bit small... So beautiful, even when not alive.

Beauty on Beauty

 

Lovely Ladies

 Some gorgeous painted lady butterflies...

Sweet Beauty

 

Lovely little cabbage white butterfly enjoying some nectar from a lavender flower. You can see the proboscis in the first photo (and from afar it looks as if the butterfly has eyes with long lashes).

Lovely Fritillary

 

A pretty Gulf fritillary (hey, that rhymes!).