The Butterflies of 2024

Monarch

Happy New Year!

It's winter outside my door, of course, but during the "warm" months, I enjoy tracking and counting butterflies during my hikes and garden adventures, and then reporting my sightings to wisconsinbutterflies.org.

This post includes a few of my butterfly sightings of the past year. There were many more; I tried to include one photo of each species, but I included two monarchs (and some monarch eggs) and two common buckeyes...just because. I also saw some great spangled fritillaries, but the photos were not good. And, of course, I saw many more butterflies that I didn't photograph.

This exercise reminds me why I so enjoy spring, summer, and fall in my part of the world. Winter, meh. Anyway, here goes...

 

American Lady

Black Swallowtail

Cabbage White

Common Buckeye

Fiery Skipper

Eastern Tailed Blue

Least Skipper

Monarch

Monarch Eggs (and Ant)

Mourning Cloak

Common Buckeye

Northern Broken Dash

Orange Sulphur

Painted Lady

Eastern Comma

Pearl Crescent

Red Admiral

Silver-Spotted Skipper

Red-Spotted Purple

Sachem

Clouded Sulphur

Summer Spring Azure

Viceroy

All photos were taken in local natural areas, at botanical gardens, and on my own property. I miss the butterflies, and I look forward to many sightings in the year ahead.

The Butterflies of 2022

Common Buckeye

We've flirted with frost at my house, but we haven't had a hard freeze. There are still butterflies fluttering through the state, which is a special joy at this time of year. During the "warm" months, I enjoy tracking and counting butterflies during my hikes, and reporting my sightings to wisconsinbutterflies.org.

The numbers of monarchs were down this past season, but hopefully it was just regional and we'll have more next spring, summer, and fall. What follows are a few of the butterfly sightings of the past year, in no particular order. There were many more; this is just a small sample:

 

Mourning Cloak

Tiger Swallowtail

Viceroy

Eastern Tailed-Blue

Silver-Spotted Skipper

Peck's Skipper

Cabbage White

Pearl Crescent

Black Swallowtail

Painted Lady

Common Wood-Nymph

Monarch

All photos were taken in local natural areas, botanical gardens, and my own property. While there likely will be more butterfly sightings yet this fall, the season is winding down. I'll miss them during the winter, and look forward to sightings in the year ahead.

The Butterflies of 2021 (And a Happy Announcement)

Monarch among prairie plants

One of my favorite activities during spring, summer, and fall is to hike, and count and photograph butterflies. I report my sightings to wisconsinbutterflies.org. This past butterfly season was fabulous! What follows are a few of the butterfly (and one of the moth) sightings of 2021, in no particular order. There were many more; this is just a small sample:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (black form female)

Pearl Crescent

Black Swallowtail

Clouded Sulphur

Common Wood-Nymph

Viceroy

Silver-Spotted Skipper

Snowberry Clearwing (moth)

Eastern Tailed-Blue

Red Admiral

Monarchs (mating)

American Lady

Giant Swallowtail

Cabbage White

All photos were taken in natural areas, botanical gardens, and my own property. Frankly, every time I see a butterfly brings a special joy, and I look forward to the season ahead.

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Good news! My blogging friend, Donna, of Gardens Eye View, and I are co-authors of a book to be published in the months ahead. We're thrilled to be working with Golden Dragonfly Press. Stay tuned for more information soon!