Beth's Patch ~ Orange Sulphur Butterfly

 Normally, Orange Sulphur Butterflies are all around the yard but this year not so much.  I had one fly through about 6 weeks ago and none since than until this afternoon.

My Yard ~ Orange Sulphur Butterfly & Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly

Orange Sulphur Butterfly

These are 2 other butterfly species that are normally here in good numbers but have been in short supply this year.  Their populations have picked up the the past two weeks.

Orange Sulphur Butterfly and
possibly a Pearl Crescent caterpillar on the yellow center of the aster

Orange Sulphur Butterfly

Cloudless Yellow Sulphur Butterfly

Cloudless Yellow Sulphur Butterfly

My Gardens ~ Butterflies

Several days of good weather has allowed us more days of butterflies.  Here are some of them.

Cabbage White Butterfly

Fiery Skipper - male

Orange Sulphur Butterfly

Question Mark Butterfly on Rotten Fruit

My Yard ~ And More Butterflies

Mating Black Swallowtails with an interloper

Common Buckeyes exploding all over the county

Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly

Gray Hairstreak

Gray Hairstreak

Orange Sulphur

WY ~ Yellowstone National Park ~ Butterflies

It's amazing that when I arrived early last week Yellowstone had a full day of snow with terrible driving conditions and today the high was 82 with plenty of sunshine.  I was excited to drive Blackhill Plateau and see a few butterflies on the Rabbitbrush. that is all around the park.  I decided to drive the road above Mammoth Hot Springs going over to Norris so I could stop at an area that had lots of Rabbitbrush and sage but where it was safe to park.  I was really excited to see a good number of butterflies and a total of 8 species.  I am sure missing the butterflies and am looking forward to getting back to NJ in a few days to see what butterflies are around.

Green Comma ~ Life Butterfly

Milbert's Tortoiseshell ~ Life Butterfly

Purplish Cooper Butterfly

Red Admiral Butterfly

Orange Sulphur Butterfly

Green Comma Butterfly

Checkered  White Butterfly

My yard ~ 16 Butterfly Species ~ Yard Species #37

Today, I am off so worked out in the gardens.  It was a sunny day with warm temperatures.  The Monarchs exploded this afternoon with almost 3 dozen here.  Also have about a dozen Monarch caterpillars eating away on common and tropical milkweed, a few are in J positions plus we found 14 chrysalis after vacation. There are Black Swallowtails and BS caterpillars.  There are lots of fresh Common Buckeye, American & Painted Ladies, Cabbage Whites, Cloudless and Orange Sulphurs, Variegated Fritillary and Gray Hairstreak,  There are Red Admirals and Mourning Cloak nectaring on rotten fruit.  Fiery and Sachem skippers are here.  I have a FOY Ocola Skipper plus a first ever sighting of a Common Checkered- Skipper.  That is yard butterfly #37.  I am wondering what butterflies were here in the 3 weeks I was away??  How about when I am at work?   How many species am I missing??  Hopefully, next summer I'll be off more to find out.

Common Checkered Skipper ~ Yard Species #37

Ocola Skipper

Orange Sulphur Butterfly

Palm Desert, CA ~ The Living Desert

Today's plans included a visit to The Living Desert.  This is a zoo and botanical gardens. Jim, Dawn and I visited here in 2013. I loved the numbers of butterflies and was excited to go again.  I suggested that I go off on my own and just join up with everyone later.  I was disappointed in the butterflies as there numbers were very low but I was told that the temperatures need to be cooler before the butterflies return.  Since we are here almost 2 weeks earlier I guess that makes sense.  It was 111 degrees when we arrived on 9/11.  I was happy to get great looks at a close Bewick's Wren and some Costa's Hummingbirds.

Queen Butterfly

Orange Sulphur

Bewick's Wren

Costa's Hummingbird

Butterflies still here

2 Male Monarch's

Still seeing  a variety of butterflies in my yard.  One the most interesting sights were 2 Monarch's, both males, and the second male was determined to mate with the first.  Needless to say mating was not successful.  I wonder if they'll be any around after I return from vacation.  Will miss them over the long winter.

Cabbage White

Orange Sulphur

Pearl Crescent

Red Admiral

Painted Lady

East Lake, NC ~ Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge

Orange Sulphur Butterfly

This afternoon we drove over to Roanoke Island to the Alligator River Wildlife Refuge. There is a population of Black Bears and Red Fox we hoped to see from the car.  At the first stop by Creef Cut Trail we drove into the refuge and found several species of butterflies on the roadway including Orange Sulphur and Viceroy. After lunch we continued driving along the roadways where there were Common Buckeyes, Pearl Crescents, more Orange Sulphurs, several species of Swallowtails including Palamedes.  We probably saw several hundred butterflies in this WMA.  After driving the roads we decided to walk a trails which didn't have many birds but the butterflies especially the Palamedes Swallowtails, were all around.  A sudden rain shower put a quick stop to our hiking and a fast return to the car.  A lesson learned was to never hike without a dry bag for my camera!

Palamedes Swallowtail Butterfly

Palamedes Swallowtail Butterfly

Pearl Crescent Butterflies