Painted Lady Butterfly on Fragrant Sumac – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2500, ISO 500, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
While I am out searching for birds to photograph I also look at the other creatures that I spot and generally I can’t resist taking photos of them and why wouldn’t I? Everything in nature is connected and I value and treasure it all so it only seems logical to me to photograph them too when I can. I especially enjoy photographing “other things with wings” including the insects and butterflies I see.
Painted Lady butterflies have been in the news a lot this spring because so many of them are being spotted starting with California and their super bloom earlier this year.
Why Millions Of Painted Lady Butterflies Are Migrating Through California
It’s not just you. There are a lot more butterflies in Utah this year.
Following California’s super bloom craze, painted lady butterflies reach Monterey County
Painted Lady butterflies are migratory and several weeks ago they started showing up in northern Utah in large numbers too as our early wildflowers started to bloom at lower elevations. I photographed this Painted Lady butterfly on April 27th as it nectared in the tiny yellow flowers of a Fragrant Sumac shrub up in Box Elder County. The Painted Lady is a bit battered up which is probably due to the long distance migration it took to get here.
Mourning Cloak Butterfly on Fragrant Sumac – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
This Mourning Cloak butterfly I photographed five days ago not far from where I photographed the Painted Lady was also nectaring on Fragrant Sumac and it too looked a bit worn because they are a migratory butterfly species as well. The sumac where I photographed this butterfly was covered with other Mourning Cloaks, I estimate that I could see 30 of them at a time plus a a few other butterfly species that I didn’t get high quality images of.
The Fragrant Sumac blooms attract more butterflies than I was previously aware of but now I will pay more attention to these shrubs to look for other things with wings.
Life is good.
Mia
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Dainty and lovely.
The ephemeral magic of flutterbyes is always a treat.
I miss the “swarms” of Painted Ladies that came through my yard earlier this spring. My orange trees had tons of blossoms this year and that definitely drew the butterflies to my backyard. I don’t think people really appreciate how far these butterflies will travel.
When I first met birders, it was quite interesting to discover that they were avid butterfly enthusiasts. Nice to see these two here.
The painted ladies have been thick in the Texas hill country, too. We’ve had quite a year for wildflowers, too, and the butterflies are everywhere. I enjoyed seeing these, and having my ID of the painted ladies confirmed.