Early morning release!

My last overwintered Black Swallowtail has emerged and was release today , female #3

I am free once again , until the next round of cats get here at least

I should have been working in the garden today. But when the monarchs start moving through, I drop everything and grab the camera. Butterfly migrations make me happy! This year the monarchs are big and bold and beautiful.

GrammaChar said:I should have been working in the garden today. But when the monarchs start moving through, I drop everything and grab the camera. Butterfly migrations make me happy! This year the monarchs are big and bold and beautiful.

Incredible photos!

@cwhitt

Can't let the monarchs have all the glory. There were a lot of American (or Painted) Ladies out as well,










and a few hairstreaks,





Red Admirals,




a buckeye,



and a Variegated Frit.



I'm anxious to see what shows up in the garden today!

I am just hoping to get one or two of ANY butterfly. I live in a condo and the grounds are nicely landscaped - with bushes and trees. Not much attraction for a butterfly though. But as I have an end townhouse, I have some room for planting. Put in lavender, and planted a lot of annuals: marigolds, zinnias, snapdragons, sunflowers. Also, some forward thinking person planted Milk Thistle in a small isolated area by the parking lot. Tried for two years to germinate Milkweed seeds, but no go. On Arbor Day, the master gardeners at our library, in cooperation with the Ohio State extension office, handed out perennials and tree seedlings. So I snagged a milkweed (along with a catmint for my kitty! ) and planted those - they both seem to be taking. The last few years my efforts have attracted gold and house finches and a BUNCH of bees. Have seen a Swallowtail and a couple of small butterflies that I do not know the names of. I think I am going in the right direction, so hoping to see a lot more butterflies this summer. Paying more attention also to the COLOR of the annuals I am planting this year also.

Sounds like you're doing everything right! Don't worry; a garden with those choices will surely bring in some butterflies! And it will be lovely to look at!

You guys at the Texas Hill Country have it made, the butterflies love your area.

I love those hairstreaks. I've not seen, or noticed, one before. One looks gray, but the others look blue? Do they change with the light?

Hi everyone, I absolutely LOVE your butterfly photos. I adore those wonderful creatures . Here in Mi we don't have any butterflies yet but I've already gotten quite a few nice ones in the past. Last summer I found 2 monarch worms on milkweed and brought them in the house to hatch them once my little bro. dumped the jar and the one escaped then the other died. I was so sad but one day we had this monarch butterfly flying around in the house, the escaped one had survived. I have already seen lots that I have no idea what kind they were but really enjoyed them.

@cwhitt Christie, milkweed is pretty easy to grow but, depending on where you're getting you seeds, they may need to be stratified for best viability. You may not get any flowers the first year. Don't forget that milkweed is invasive and will take over your plot if you don't thin it out occasionally. Our's is just starting to come up this year.

Picture of mourning cloak butterfly in my garden this afternoon.

That's a beauty .

We received a lot of rain early this morning and by afternoon the sun began to peek out from behind the clouds and I had this visitor to the yard. I have not seen many butterflies yet.

Anole

I apologize in advance for another lengthy post. I go a little crazy this time of year.

This was my morning walk around the yard with the camera. I won't bore you with the names and will throw in a few non-butterfly pictures to keep you from dozing off...





































Okay, I'm done for the day.

Wow @grammachair you got such beauties

They are gorgeous pictures, I need to get a new camera. Lol

Iluvtobake said:I love those hairstreaks. I've not seen, or noticed, one before. One looks gray, but the others look blue? Do they change with the light?

There are several varieties. The most common hairstreaks in my area are the Gray, Oak, Juniper, Dusky-blue Groundstreak, and the Great Purple.

I got these poor quality photos today of what I *think* might be a Mallow Scrub hairstreak. Sadly it looks like it had a rough journey so the wing color is faded. That, combined with the fact that the butterfly measured only about 3/4" across and was in bad lighting, makes a definite identification difficult. Anyone have a clue?

@GrammaChar I never get tired of looking at your pics .