A Butterfly Kind of Day.

I was surprised at how many butterflies showed up at the same time today.

We were working on the boat when a Tiger Swallowtail cruised by and I had to run and grab the camera. We’ve seen one most every day for the past few weeks. A wingspan of about 5” and they seem to glide everywhere.

A Gulf Fritillary ….on a very invasive plant.

A female Queen.  I’ve released several Queens the past week or two.

The Queen’s underside has lines. You don’t see them from the top.

A Palamedes Swallowtail …..a bit frayed around the edges.

A Peacock and a Queen on the tropical milkweed.

I chased several Yellow Sulphurs around but this was the best I could get.

I was surprised at how many colors the Peacock has. Very pale blues..I think there is also some iridescence to them that I couldn’t capture with the camera.

and how about this little Brazilian Skipper. I never paid much attention to them until I saw one in a photo. They have such big beautiful eyes. Canna Lilies are their host plant and I have several in the wetlands.

I’m not sure what this plant is…but it smells beautiful.

A male Queen….note the black spot on his hind wing.

On the underside of the hind wing it is the white dot circled with black.

The Zebra Longwings have been here all summer. There are usually 3 or 4 together.

I have about 25 Queen caterpillars in my Butterfly House. I haven’t seen many Monarchs lately. Maybe they have already migrated….or they’ve found other plants to lay their eggs on since there are Queens here and they compete for the same Milkweed plants.