Painted ladies everywhere

I saw this Painted Lady butterfly in my yard.  Later in the day I saw maybe 20 or 30 fluttering around.  Smaller than a Monarch but similar coloring.

 

 

Here's a series of photos with three of them on the cluster of flowers.  Note the bee having to share space...

 

Return of a Painted Lady

I've posted one of these before.  Called a Painted Lady.  You can see not very big. 

 

 

It would fly and then land and I could pick it up easily.  I was probably interrupting something important.

Pearl crescent

This is a very small butterfly.  The color caught my eye but so did the size. 

It's called a Pearl crescent.









From Wikipedia...

The pearl crescent (Phyciodes tharos) is a butterfly of North America. It is found in all parts of the United States except the west coast, and throughout Mexico and parts of southern Canada, in particular Ontario. The wingspan is from 21 to 34 mm.^[1] The species has several broods throughout the year, from April–November in the north, and throughout the year in the deep south and Mexico.

Monarch moment

Did the best I could leaning over the fence to capture these...I kept waiting for the wings to spread.  Didn't quite get it...

Eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly

Bonus bee

Blue swallowtail butterfly

Not a very good picture, but butterflies don't often stay put for a close-up.

Here's what I saw in my back tree...

 

 

And from the internet...

Checking in on my milkweed

Just about 28" as of today and almost time to add more chicken wire.

 

 

Nothing happening with the butterfly bush.  I don't think it survived the winter. 

 

 

Also, it's officially toad and frog season...

 

Painted Lady?

Saw this butterfly yesterday...signs of spring.

I believe this is a Painted Lady.

 

Here's a picture from the internet...