Lycaena phlaeas or Small Copper butterfly.

butterfly and a flying insect

Four male Brimstone butterflies harry a solitary female (Top centre) in the hope of mating.

It must be Tiger season, these beauties are visiting pretty often.

I hope you have a terrific Tuesday, happy snapping.

Polygonia c-album.

Cordulegaster bidentata

A Tree Bumblebee aims for the Nectar pot or should I say Pollen pot of a Hypericum flower

A perfect opposite on the colour wheel. Full marks to this Longhorn Moth for landing and posing on this spot on a Gorse flower.

Orange-barred Sulphur

Phoebis philea

A Commom Red Soldier beetle gets airbourne in search of...................

After a night of torrential downpours, I found these butterflies clinging on the dead flower stems of the Queen’s Wreath (Petrea volubilis).

Monarch Butterfly, Wildwood Lake, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Title quote by Ponce Denis Ecouchard Lebrun.

An Emarald damselfly (common spreadwing) Keeps an eye on my movements.

Tiger Swallowtail in my backyard.

Gulf Fritillary butterfly on the butterfly bush. I Love my little distractions. Habitat enhancement projects are still underway but are off to a great start. There are several Gulf Fritillaries flitting about the yard daily now. I have brought three corky stem vines on a trellis into the screened lanai so I can bring in eggs and caterpillars to raise inside free from predators. Of course they are on their own once released. The corky stem also works for the zebra longwing butterflies and there are a lot zebras in the yard now as well.

A Gatekeeper butterfly sips nectar from a Tansy flowerhead.

This is the first time I have seen a red spotted purple admiral in my yard. The funny thing is that I raised it and didn't even realize it.

Imagine my surprise when I was checking the butterfly enclosures and saw this beauty drying it's wings. As a butterfly, it has a similar look to the pipevine swallowtail and when I walked by the first time that is what I thought had eclosed (hatched). I stared at it momentarily and thought to myself that's not a pipevine swallowtail, it's a red-spotted purple, but how? I know what they look like because I have seen one in Kentucky during my bourbon trail tour. And I've been trying to attract them to the yard for a long time.

But how on earth did it get in the protective custody enclosure? I wasn't feeding anything black cherry leaves (host plant). As it turns out, they occasionally use the willow tree as a host. I have been feeding willow to what I thought was thirty-five viceroy caterpillars that I had collected. The viceroy and red-spotted purple caterpillars and chrysalis' look very much alike. I wonder how many more I have raised.

May your day be filled with delightful surprises, happy snapping.