Last year I did up a post about the kinds of butterflies visiting the gardens. (You can review that butterfly post here.)At that time I didn't mention one particular butterfly - the red admiral - because I never saw one.
Well, this year sure is different. I don't know what has been added to the environment (unless it's just the extra warm, extra early spring weather itself), but this year I've got more red admirals than the entire Chinese fleet! LOL
At one point I counted 9 or 10. They don't seem to be visiting any blooms (although I did spy one on a rhody once). Most of the time they are flitting around, and around, and around. I swear they are doing laps around the house.
When they aren't flitting, they're usually resting on leaf litter (my fall mulch of choice), or sticks. In this pic one of them was sunning itself on a deck railing. The colors are striking and for once I could see the tiny blue spots, not just the white, orange, black and sable.
Other butterflies I've already seen this year: tiger swallowtail, eastern black swallowtail, and the ubiquitous cabbage butterflies.
The year is starting well, and promises to be a really flitt-ful season. Hope your gardens are all a-flutter too. :-D
Nice shot. I've seen a couple Tiger Swallowtails, various white, blue, or yellow ones, and I'm pretty sure I saw a Monarch a few days ago. Still no hummingbirds though. Maybe they've been avoiding our area due to lack of rain.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to mention, my own Tennessee coneflowers are returning this year. I had to go check. I wintersowed some last winter and was happy to find them still in their spots. Thanks for the offer. ;)
And the butterfly bushes are starting to push out buds. I'll know which one is that magenta reddish one as soon as they bloom. I'll be taking a few cuttings of it.
Hi Tom. I don't know if rain (or wind - how do they fly like they do in 20-30 mph winds???) affects their travels. Or was it the deep persistent snow we had tis winter? Anyway, I'm just glad they are here.
ReplyDeleteAlso glad to learn your Tenn's came back. I'm looking forward to seeing mine bloom this year.
Good luck with the magenta b'fly cuttings! :-D
I saw one monarch fly through yesterday but they are slow coming. I have seen the butterfly you have posted but I have never known it's name. We have a lot of painted ladies here.
ReplyDeleteLarry - I've not seen any monarchs yet, though hope for more than usual since all my milkweeds are getting big and ready to bloom. I may have spotted a painted lady, but then it was gone and I didn't see it again. I still have the red admirals, though. You just never know what's going to grow or visit from year to year. I guess that's most of the fun, no?
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