Monarch butterflies have been visiting the garden and finding the 'butterfly bush' to be an irresistible treat

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*GARDENING DISCLAIMER: Although I do not condone cultivating invasive plants, bushes and shrubs, buddleia (aka 'butterfly bush') is not considered an invasive pest in our area of the world (San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA) where summers are rainless. It does not propagate here. That's the only reason I have one.

Spotted a Gulf Fritillary butterfly in my garden for the first time... completely by accident

I saw a couple of monarch butterflies fluttering around the buddleia (aka 'Butterfly Bush')* that's in full bloom in the garden, so I took my camera out to try and catch some shots. Imagine my surprise when I saw another butterfly I didn't recognize, got some shots of it sipping nectar and came inside to find it is a variety I've never seen before (let alone photographed). I'm pretty stoked!

*GARDENING DISCLAIMER: Although I do not condone cultivating invasive plants, bushes and shrubs, buddleia is not considered an invasive pest in our area of the world (San Francisco Bay Area of California) where summer's are rainless. It does not propagate here. That's the only reason I have one.

The buddleia provides a rest stop for a migrating butterfly

A very large buddleia (butterfly bush) grows in the front garden with its upper branches as high as the house. Every year around August, I give it a haircut and it responds by putting on an encore show of lovely sweet blooms late in October or early November.

This year the blooms provided a meal for a Painted Lady butterfly. The sweet nectar must have been a welcome rest stop snack for this tattered and tired lady as she was flying by during her autumn migration. Painted Lady butterflies migrate in the spring and again in the autumn.

When I see one of these beauties in its post-summer migration south I wonder where it must have spent the summer months. Did this lady enjoy breezy summer afternoons flitting over meadows of wildflowers in the Sierra Nevadas so dear to my heart?

I hope she did.

The dance of the skippers and the romance of butterflies

The sun is finally out after seemingly endless days of unseasonal cool rain and grey skies. The critters in the garden aren't wasting any time enjoying the warm rays.

I took a stroll through the mid-afternoon garden with my camera (and new lens) to see what serendipitous moments I could discover. I always stop at the potted lavender that attracts so many pollinators to its blossoms.

I spotted the female Skipper butterfly first (above). Then she began to flutter her wings while remaining on her perch (below).

A frantic flapping male quickly fluttered into the scene (above).

She kept gently fluttering her wings while he flitted all over. He was so fast and fleeting, it was hard to track where he was.

She would flutter to another stalk and the dance would commence. Then she would move again, and it would continue once more. Sometimes she would take flight and the two would dance in mid-air around me, performing a high-speed reel. I stood in one place and turned to see where they would sashay to next... to the mandarin tree... to the lavender... to a nearby stalk of milkweed... and back to the lavender.

So intrigued was I in the frenetic pace of their courtship. Romance seemed quite exhausting from my vantage point.

I have to chuckle. It's much the same with people in love. The frenetic pace of romance, particularly young love, seems so exhausting to those on the outside of the gyrations of courtship... yet many onlookers wish they could join the dance with their own partner nonetheless.

Butterfly Visitors

Western Tiger Swallowtail on our lilacs (March 29, 2009)
Click here to view image larger

Last Saturday, I noticed that there was a lot of fluttering going on around the garden. Everywhere I turned it seemed I saw a butterfly. By Sunday, the skies were full of butterflies. When we walked out to our car after church, there were butterflies everywhere we looked. They were all flying with a purpose instead of milling about. They were all headed north. At first I thought they were Monarch butterflies because I didn't know of any other butterfly that migrated. But they weren't big enough to be Monarchs.

On the drive home we continued to see hundreds of butterflies all headed north. By the time we got home I knew I needed to get my camera and try to photograph one. As I headed inside I glanced at our lilac bush and saw at least two butterflies on it getting a sip.

After changing out of my Sunday dress, I went out and camped out under the lilac bushes. I had to wait a while and be very still. The butterflies continued to fly north over our garden. Finally, one lighted on the lilac so I could get a shot.

Click image to view larger

These definitely weren't Monarch butterflies. With the photo I was able to identify them. Another migrating butterfly that I didn't know about is the American Painted Lady butterfly and these butterflies are a variety called the West Coast Lady butterfly.

In my waiting for one of the migratory butterflies to light on a blossom, I was delighted to have a Western Tiger Swallowtail come down for a snack (see photo at beginning of post). They are my favorite butterfly visitor in our garden. I find their caterpillars in our fennel all the time and get excited when I do because I know it will be a gorgeous butterfly someday.

As I've observed the butterflies over this week, I've been interested in the difference between the "attitudes" of the two types of butterflies. The West Coast Lady butterflies are definitely on a mission. They aren't easily distracted out of flight even by the yummiest of flowers. But the Western Tiger Swallowtail is a happy-go-lucky local butterfly. It flits from blossom to blossom in a leisurely way as if it hasn't a care in the world.

Kinda like people isn't it? Which butterfly are you more like--the West Coast Lady or the Western Tiger Swallowtail?