Today near rivals yesterday, at least in the New England Aster plot...actually at 8 kinds, it's 1 more than previous post.
Monarch

Buckeye

Sulphur

Orange Sulphur 'alba' form -

Colors are phenomenal on this under rated beauty.

Cabbage White

Skippers on rain lily

American Painted Lady

ETB (Blue)

on Pentas (saved best shot for last - the blue is iridescent)

Jack those are stunning! The last one with the iridescent blue wings of the Hairstreak on the Pentas is a true jewel.

Thanks Catmint

Totally beautiful Jack!!

Jack, you are having a phenomenal butterfly festival at your house!

Wildflower magnets. It actually looks 'pretty wild' back there (behind garage)

Jack, that's one of the Blues, not a Hairstreak.

I was mostly in the car today but we stopped at the old family cemeteries on the way to the conference. I had to climb a hill to get to the first one and it was a steep hill! I've done it twice before, but that was before I got fibro and chronic fatigue. My legs hurt so bad right now and I dread waking up tomorrow. But it's okay because at the second cemetery (which is basically in this guy's backyard) I saw lots of butterflies.

And it's so weird that Tee posted a Comma because I think I was seeing mostly Question Marks today. Now, I have never seen a Question Mark in real life and I've only seen a Comma once in WV. I've looked at books and internet pictures and now that I think I've seen both, I've come to some conclusions. First, the Comma does lack the separate dot. The Question Mark seems to have more "cutouts" in its wings. They're frillier, if you will. Also, the Question Marks looked bigger. Could just be a natural variation, though. Anyway, this guy's yard had tons of them because they were puddling. And they are so skittish! I kept trying to sneak up on them but they look like dead leaves so first I had to distinguish the butterfly from actual dead leaves, and then sneak up on it. Tell me what you think.



Argh! Hotel internet is so slow loading these pictures. I think this is a Red-Banded Hairstreak. I'm going to submit all my pictures to BAMONA because I doubt they get a lot of submissions from this area. But I think I might wait until I get faster internet.



Okay, I saw two kinds of Blues today. I believe the first is a Summer Azure and she might have been laying eggs. I don't know the plants she was on well enough to know if they are what is listed on the BAMONA website. There are some beautiful wildflowers up here!



The other one is blurry (sorry) but I think it is an Eastern Tailed Blue. I've seen lots of those at Grandma's house. They like clover, their host plant as well as a good nectar plant. You can see the top of this Blue is different from the other. At this point, I was ready to get back in the car and sit down.



And I had these hilarious skippers. The male was really trying to get his groove thing on, but she just kept flying around.

Corrected the Blue. That Red Banded Hairstreak is a real beauty. First time I've seen a pic thereof.

Sometimes you need to act like a BF to sneak up on them, or, conversely, you could lay in wait dressed like a BF!

jmorth said:Wildflower magnets. It actually looks 'pretty wild' back there (behind garage)

Beautiful wilds Jack. I love the wilds & the wild look.

Melanie, what a day you had! Nice, nice shots! I don't think I can pick a favorite.

Hope you recover sufficiently for tomorrow.

Even the trees are wilds - Paw Paw trees. Fruit is just about ready.

I'm usually pretty good at sneaking up on them, but I'm dealing with different species I'm not used to! I try to treat the Blues like the Cassius Blues and I don't know what to make of the Question Marks. The Hairstreak was super tame; I got so close to it. Today it was fairly cool, though. Even the locals said this was a cool day. I don't think it hit 80 degrees, so many of the butterflies were willing to slow down, open their wings and get a little sun.

In good news, I'm pretty sure I'm seeing milkweed along the sides of most roads in Virginia and Kentucky. I'm not 100% sure since I'm not used to that species of milkweed but it's the one with the big purple flowers on top. Sort of reminds me of Joe Pye Weed in a strange way. I'll take a picture of it when I'm not zooming down the highway. At least I recognized pokeweed when I saw it! Tomorrow, I'm going to wear my Monarch shirt I got from Monarch Watch. http://shop.monarchwatch.org/s... Maybe I can educate some folks. On Sunday, our speaker is a historian who went to Harvard so I'm going to wear my UPenn shirt so we can have an Ivy League fight!

You know, the lady who lives at the bottom of the hill where the cemetery was remembered me even though it's been four years and I've only been there twice before? She remembered I liked the butterflies in her garden and she mentioned how she had seen far fewer this year and I told her that Florida had done well but that you guys were telling me it had been a bad year for some of you. Although, it appears to be picking up at Jack's house!

Jack, I was going to ask you if that was a Pawpaw tree. I've never eaten one and I mentioned to Dad how I'd never been up here when they were ripe. And he was like, "You are now". Will Melanie be brave and try one? Find out when I make it to Grandma's house! My Grandpa LOVED Pawpaws and planted the seeds all around his property so there are many trees. And you all know the Zebra Swallowtail is my favorite butterfly. If it's good enough for them to eat, it's good enough for me, right?

If they are anything like pigeons, I wouldn't trust them. Rainforest fruit doves here eat the most poisonous of fruits.

I'm jealous of the Paw Paw tree. And the asters & the coneflowers & ........

Try a Paw Paw & tell us what you think it tastes like Melanie. Jack, what do you think they taste like?

Right! George Washington and Thomas Jefferson liked Paw Paws as a desert. Zebra Swallowtail is my favorite indigenous BF as well. A couple years after planting those Paw Paws I actually saw a Zebra ST back there.

Consistency of custard, banana/melony favor, defies definition. You can even make a beer/alcoholic drink out of them (saw a recipe on the internet).

Now this is what I call a cat.

http://newswatch.nationalgeogr...

Moths can have quite a presence.

Check out the flying ant shadow on the Sulphur butterfly's wing.