Loves the Purple Cone Flowers!

My guess would be either:

Painted Lady https://sites.google.com/site/...

or

American Lady https://sites.google.com/site/...

They're almost identical!!

Very hard to tell a difference.

From what I've read, the really obvious difference is that the American Lady has 2 large "eye-spots" on the underside of the hind wing, while the Painted Lady has 4 smaller spots.

If pushed to the wall, I'd guess your photo is a Painted Lady...the black surrounding the orange on the upper wings doesn't appear as crisp as on the American Lady. The American Lady also has one white round spot in the middle outer orange blotch of the upper wing. You can see it in the link, but I don't see it in your photo.

See if you can get one to pose with its underwings showing

You know I have tried asking butterflies to'' hold that pose ''and found them very uncooperative, most times they just fly off in a huff

gardengus said:You know I have tried asking butterflies to'' hold that pose ''and found them very uncooperative, most times they just fly off in a huff

Makes me wonder how the photographer in the links I posted got those pix. They're so clear and crisp, it must be a zillion dollar camera that shoots about 20 frames a second.

:biggrin:

You did it!!

So the positive ID is Painted Lady, yes?

I think so!

I guess you have more cooperative butterflies , she is a pretty Lady