My Temple of Nature: Butterfly Bush

There's a reason why the Butterfly Bush is called such; it really does attract butterflies as well as all other kinds of flying things - especially all types of flies, wasps, and bees. And the cricket hunting wasp or digger wasp is also back (see this post for more on it) - zooming around as if it just can't make a decision about where to land. Every year I wait to see if I can capture pictures of butterflies that have never visited before. This year I cut my two butterfly bushes way back probably a little later in spring than usual. Every year my neighbors think I've killed them for sure and every year they grow back bigger than the year before which is the reason I have to keep pruning them. Because I cut it back later than usual it took a little longer for them to start blooming this year and a little longer for all the flying things to discover them, but now everything is in full swing.

I always get a lot of monarchs, and usually yellow swallowtails although I haven't seen any swallowtails yet this year. But I have gotten some new visitors. Even though some are rather common, I'm always excited when I get a new specimen. Here are my new visitors which I have tried to identify - some more successfully than others.

I think this might be a Wild Indigo Duskywing, or a Horace's Duskywing?? I didn't get a closed wing picture so am not sure, but think it's definitely in the Duskywing family. Evidently there are quite a few that look similar. It has a rather checkerboard wing pattern that's a bit unusual and even though it isn't brightly colored, I think it's pretty and definitely welcome.

My next new visitor is the silver-spotted skipper.

The first photo isn't in focus but it was the only photo I was able to get that has the best angle to see where it got its name. In more subdued light its spot looks white and rather random, as though it had flown too close to a can of white paint. But in the bright sunlight the spot really does shine silver with just a hint of blue.

The next visitor is also in the skipper family, but I'm not sure of the exact species.

In the bottom photo you can clearly see its proboscis and I was able to watch it move it from flower to flower sipping nectar. Maybe a least skipper? The bright sun faded out the colors and detail a bit so it's hard to tell. It was very patient with me and allowed several very tight shots, but it never opened its wings while it was sitting there.

I took photos of another little orange skipper last year, but am not sure whether they are the same species or not. Here is last year's open wing photo.

The next visitor I thought was new, but found an unidentified butterfly photo from last year that matches (I think) the closed wing photo from this year - the Painted Lady, also known as the Cosmopolitan.