Nice shot, Sherri!

We were watching an interesting special on PBS, part of which was about Painted Lady butterflies and their migration. I was not aware that they travel much further than the Monarchs which we hear about so often. You can watch the entire episode here, about an hour:
Sex, Lies, and Butterflies http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature...

I saw that program, Mac and was amazed at the flight patterns and stamina of the Painted Ladies. The show was both entertaining and informative. A must see hour for butterfly lovers.
I'm not sure if my butterflies are Painted or American Ladies, but I have a new respect for them. There were plenty out today!











And a lone variegated fritillary.



I got excited when I discovered several caterpillars on the fennel.





Spring is so much fun! And the foxes watched me work in the garden all day.





The rock walls provide them with the perfect observation post.



I enjoy their company.

Mac, thank you for the link! I'll make time to watch that.

Char, wonderful pics of the fox. They sure are beautiful and they do look sly. I can never remember the difference between the Painted Lady butterfly and the American Lady. So I looked it up and I think you have both in your pictures. Here's a link showing the difference. All of your pictures look like American Lady, except the third one down, looks like a Painted Lady, from what I can tell. https://bugguide.net/node/view...

@NakedChickenFarm - not sure what kind of "weed" that is, but if the butterflies like it, perhaps you should keep it and call it a "wildflower".

Char what a beautiful creature the fox is, and it does have a sly grin. those caterpillars are really spectacular, what are they, do you know? Great pictures of the butterflies too.

Gulf fritillary enjoying a bloom on the Prickly Pear cactus

This one looks like it turned to look at me

Getting down to the good stuff

More great photos! I love Gulf Frits (hence my avatar). You made me realize I need to hike the back woods to see if any prickly pear are blooming here. I've pretty much eradicated them from the "yard" part of the property, as I've had to pluck out far too many spines over the years. Do love the flowers though.

Hubby fell in love with this little lady, or guy, and whipped out his phone.

Black Swallowtail?

There were three of them on the only dill plant for at least half an acre. In a pot near the back door.

Not from this house, but from my previous house. Not sure what kind of butterfly this one is, but it was landing in my compost bin.

SoCal, that looks like a Mourning Cloak butterfly. They like rotting fruit. I've seen them on poop but it didn't seem like that would make a good picture to share...

Mourning Cloaks are really beautiful butterflies, I wish they were more common around here.
Their larval plants are many different kinds of trees and they have a very unusual behavior.

wildflowers said:SoCal, that looks like a Mourning Cloak butterfly. They like rotting fruit. I've seen them on poop but it didn't seem like that would make a good picture to share...

Make sense, our neighbor at the time had a huge dog and a large yard as well.

Mourning Cloak butterfly Beautiful.

Black Swallowtail , released male #5

Krobra, did they look like the catepillar above? Internet pics of black swallowtails vary a lot at the butterfly stage. I'm just starting to get into butterflies and learning the names. Our butterfly season seems to be over. We had so many in winter I thought they would carry the rosemary bushes away. They were covered. I'm seeing very few now.

yes , although the Anise Butterfly caterpillars look pretty much the same and eat the same host plants , it looks like anything in Texas is most likely a Black Swallowtail.

a link to the stages of Black Swallowtails
https://www.pbase.com/rcm1840/...

a link to Anise Buttetrfly range map and info
https://www.butterfliesandmoth...

and a link to Black Swallowtail Buttetrfly range map and info
https://www.butterfliesandmoth...

Thanks for the links, Kurt .

Saw My first swallowtail today. 😃 I had two pots one of growing parsley and one pot of dill in the garden but he didn't land. 😕 He was just checking out everything. Last year I released 48 monarchs. Saw only one black swallowtail all summer. Planted more for them so today's visit is a good sign. My milkweed is popping out of the ground.

Krobra, thank you for the links. That first one, showing the stages, was very helpful. I was wondering where they went. Two are missing now. Let's hope they meandered off into the weeds.

What a beautiful Black Swallowtail!