Friday, July 7, 2017

It's Butterfly Season!

The first butterflies showed up here about a month ago, when the Lilacs were in bloom.  Then the Ninebark came into flower, and the garden started buzzing.  Soon after that the very fragrant Valerian joined them.  It's been busy with various butterflies ever since, one of my favourite times in the garden here.

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was one of the earliest to show up, and the largest I've seen yet.  It likes the Lilacs, but here it is visiting the Valerian, just the other day.

The Red Admiral has been around several weeks too, looking just a little tattered.

This is our big Ninebark shrub, covered in masses of intricate white blossoms for about a week, and absolutely buzzing with bees, wasps and flies when it's at peak bloom.  You can hear the entire shrub buzzing with hundreds of insects  as you get close.


All the tiny pistils and stamens obviously have what it takes to attract insects.  Of all the shrubs we have here, this is the best for pollinators.

 This Little Wood-Satyr has spent a lot of time on the Ninebark blossoms.

This to me looks like a Pearly Crescent, though it's missing one antenna.  I have to take a really close look at an enlarged picture of this and compare it to the one below to see the difference.  (and there's an intermediate form too).  I use the simple "Photo Field Guide to the Butterflies of Southern Ontario".

And here is the very similar Northern Crescent, perhaps the most tattered one I have ever seen still flying!

A healthier looking Northern Crescent.

The smallest of all these, though the picture makes it seem big, is the Spring Azure, a tiny butterfly that appeared just white to my eye.  More butterflies to come; these are just about half of the species I've identified.

Linking to:

17 comments:

  1. Pretty butterflies. You did well catching an azure on camera.

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  2. Lovely! I am envious of your knowledge and ability to find them in the guide book.

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  3. I never heard of the Ninebark shrub before, but I can sure see how much the butterflies and bees love it. I sure do enjoy seeing those butterflies and moths. Glad to hear there's more to come. :-)

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  4. Hello, the shrub is beautiful, love the blooms and pretty variety of butterflies. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

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  5. I've identified some butterflies lately too. Gorgeous creatures.

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  6. You have some excellent pictures of the butterflies. I always enjoy seeing the little critters like these.

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  7. oh my...i am so jealous!! i have only seen a few butterflies and have not gotten any pictures except in the butterfly house!! the swallowtail is GORGEOUS!!!

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  8. Lots of great shots of the butterflies. I've seen them by my cone flowers but haven't taken any pictures yet.
    Ken is happy to be getting such a big garage, it is just about as big as the house!!
    He'll enjoy making a new Train Layout so don't feel too bad. He will be able to save most of the structures.

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  9. I love all the butterflies! Great photos!
    Thanks for your comment on the White-throated Sparrow. When they return to us here in the south next Winter, I will remember they are singing about their sweet Canadian home
    Have a wonderful week-end!

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  10. Lovely captures of the butterflies!

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  11. It is neat to see all your kinds of butterflies. We have most of them down here. I noticed a painted lady on my coneflowers last week but didn't get any shots. Great collection of shots.

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  12. Butterflies seem to everywhere just now.......

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