Flutterbys!

Is anyone else getting clouds of butterflys? I do wish I could photograph them, but with the breezes here, and not having any attractive bushes around to entice them to stop, they just go by the window in waves. I've been smiling all morning! What is it about the delicate little things that is so cheery?

I can tell there are different varieties/sizes, and I think I saw some painted ladies in there. I stood outside a while ago and they just flew all around me like snow flurries. Very cool.

Kathleen

I'm getting butterflies...but not clouds of them. I think the ones I'm seeing are Painted Ladys. However, there was something on the news the other day about clouds of monarchs in Stockton, I think, (sorry don't remember...was making breakfast and not actually watching but listening) that were flying around.....bet that was a site to see!

Yes, it's the painted lady butterfly migration.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/495689/

Yes here also its very pretty

We had a painted lady storm yesterday. You could not drive slow enough. DD said they had a hard time running track, there were so many.

Just heard a report on the radio from Oakland about how great the numbers are.
Found this article from a Vacaville paper, posting part of it here:
The Painted Lady is a butterfly, Latin name Vanessa Cardui, and it migrates from the deserts along the U.S.-Mexico border every year around this time - but not usually in these sorts of numbers.

On Monday, the rapidly winging creatures were everywhere and in such numbers that residents across Solano and Yolo counties were calling University of California, Davis, professor Arthur Shapiro all morning.
Shapiro is a professor of evolution and ecology and an expert on butterflies.

"I've had 20 calls in the last half hour," he said in a telephone interview from his Davis office Monday morning. "This migration is immense, from Modesto to Chico. I'm watching them go past my window at the rate of about one per second."
He said the enormous number this year can be attributed directly to the heavy rains that have hit the deserts of the American southwest."
http://www.thereporter.com/news/ci_2629159
So not only did the rains bring a heavy desert wildflower show but it increased the flutterbyes.

The ones we have are smaller than Painted Ladys. I was thinking they might be Sulphurs or something. Oh, wouldn't it be cool if the butterflies came back? I remember when I was a kid we could take our butterfly nets outside and catch them almost any day we tried. Then came the (dun, Dun, DUN!!!! sinister music) "Spray Man".....and in a few years they virtually disappeared. I would LOVE for my daughter to be able to see clouds of them every year!
K

Yes, we are getting them here. About 2 weeks ago we had about 2 days worth of silvery/grey/blue (sorry, don't know species) butterflies coming through the backyard & over the house, and then last monday I was with my folks in Elk Grove & as we sat & ate our lunch, the ones that I think are painted ladies floated over our heads, all headed north. Then yesterday I was sitting on my swing out back & here came the painted ladies in MY yard, following the exact same path as the silvery/grey/blue ones weeks before. They are still coming & it is amazing how they all follow the same path. My mom & I were talking about it & it is almost like they are on an air stream or current.
Oh, and my sister & her husband left Colorado a few days ago headed here, they said they had to pull over several times because of the endless clouds of monarchs that were crossing the highway for several miles.
Simply amazing!

Holy cow, the Painted Ladies have hit now! It's amazing.....like a magical flood!
K :~D

Glad you all got to see them -- great photo, as always, Kelli.

I've never had such a clear indicator of North-South on our property. I'll never forget now (I am directionally challenged), because I have the picture in my mind of those little guys heading north. We saw just a few yesterday, trying to catch up with their buddies. What a treat it has been.

I think the migration is past, now, but I hope a few butterflies decided to stay around. In the summer we always have west coast ladies, which are very much like painted ladies except the largest white spot of the painted lady is orange on the west coast lady.

Making a return trip? It's not a migration like in the spring, but I've seen more now than I have since then.

And for your education, this is a west coast lady. Note that what is the largest white spot or line on the painted lady is orange in the west coast lady. Also, west coast ladies have larger "eye" spots on their back wings. (This west coast lady was in Arizona.)

I will have to keep an eye out. I have not seen the ladies, just the usual frits. Maybe I should look closer.

It came by in few months ago...
It was on first Windy Day...

This message was edited Oct 25, 2005 8:02 AM