Sick of butterflies yet? No? Good – neither am I

We’re seeing quite a few Red Admirals this month.

But this is the first Painted Lady I’ve seen this year. Painted Lady is one of my favourite butterflies.

And there have been all kinds of Skippers.

These little Crescents have also been very abundant this year. They seem to prefer yellow flowers, so I was tickled to capture this one on a pink Cosmos.

And the Monarchs…

Have been amazing this year. They are starting their long journey south so we are seeing so many of them – even while out driving – I easily spot them fluttering over the roads and farm fields.

I got very excited on the weekend – I was headed from the shed to the catio and something in the veg gardens caught my eye…

Can you see it? Let’s take a closer look…

How about now? Yup. That’s a little monarch chrysalis hanging from Mr. Raccoons book. And on first glance, I thought it was close to opening.

It was brown, and still mottled with green. When a monarch is close to emerging, the chrysalis goes clear and looks mostly black. This one has most likely been the victim of a parasitic wasp. It’s the circle of life, I’m afraid. Only 5% of monarch caterpillars make it to butterfly stage.

It just makes every one of these as little extra special!