Butterflies are still trying to recover from this Spring's record freeze. However we received a lot of rain in June and July and things are looking good. Now we're finally back to the hot breezy weather we expect this time of year that can blow in some good butterflies. This morning I stepped out onto the back porch ready to do some yard work when I glimpsed a brightly patterned butterfly in our brush patch. It was nectaring on our red Salvia but staying fairly low. All I could think of was maybe some king of a Nymphallid. I grabbed the camera and ran over and discovered it was a smallish swallowtail with black wings with a broad yellow band. I instantly recognized it a a male Broad-banded Swallowtail, the first male I've ever seen. I got a few photos over the next couple of minutes and then it was gone. We had a female last summer that paled in comparison to this much better looking butterfly.
Notice how much more narrow the bands are on our common Western Giant Swallowtail.
Three days ago I caught an orange flash in our brush patch that seemed a little off for our regular Gulf Fritillaries. A minutes later I was not surprised to find this scruffy Ruddy Daggerwing on the blooming Tenaza, the third ever for our yard.
Hot, windy and dry is the forecast for the coming week so maybe some more good butterflies will blow in.
