The first butterflies returned two weeks ago, but they haven’t been able to bask in the sun with the recent rainy days. Red admirals are very territorial and the females will only mate with males with superior flight abilities who can hold territory. Females select males with those traits that will increase the mating success of their offspring.
Return of the Red Admirals
Love is in the air, or at least some butterflies are doing the mating dance, like these two monarchs attached to each other. During mating, if a female accepts a male, the male uses clasping organs on their abdomens to grasp female and go on a courtship flight which can last for several hours, even overnight.
Monarch Love
There were different butterflies flying across the field while I was mowing today and many monarch butterflies were hanging around the milkweeds and the wild raspberries.
Monarch Hanging Around
The various critters in my yard slow down my mowing since I have to wait for all the little bunnies to get out of the way of the mower. And the toads, frogs and the little spotted fawn. And I even had to stop for a butterfly, Red-spotted Purple, when I saw it trapped in the window screen. It is mainly a black butterfly with iridescent blue with red spots and it is often found taking nutrients from gravel roads, roadsides, or scat.
Red-spotted Purple
New butterflies are emerging but this Red Admiral has seen some days with damaged wings and looks a bit faded out as it suns itself in the last light of the day.
Old Butterfly
The winds today was blowing the snow around, causing some drifting like at the end of my driveway. Summertime would have butterflies floating by instead of the cold snowflakes and after being outside in very cold wind chills, I would like some summertime temperatures.
Summertime Swallowtail
It seemed like the butterflies and bees heard the prediction of a rainy week and they were busy enjoying the warm sunshine on this last day of September. Although the smaller wingspan, of about 2 inches, makes it small compared to the swallowtail butterflies, the bright reddish orange color against the black makes the Red Admiral stand out on the flower blossoms.
Red Admiral in September
The fall flowers are attracting a lot of butterflies on these warm, sunny days but the butterflies might want to head to warmer places before the first frost. The Giant Swallowtail is easier to spot than other butterflies since it has a wingspan of five inches or more.
Spotting a Giant Swallowtail
The fall blooming flowers were filled with bees and butterflies in the warm Sunday afternoon sunshine. There was numerous Painted Lady butterflies finding nectar on the Live Forever plant today.
Painted Lady
Although not as big or flashy as the swallowtail butterflies, the smaller Common Buckeye is a treat to spot since it is not an abundant butterfly in Wisconsin.
Common Buckeye
