Sept. 9, 2018 - Butterflies

Here are some butterfly photos taken this summer at our lake home in northern Minnesota. We were happy to see some Monarch Butterflies because last summer we didn’t see any of them. This Monarch is resting on a Swamp Milkweed, one of their favorites.

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This is also a Monarch, showing the upper surface of the wings. The previous photo showed the underside of the wings. It’s quite common for butterflies and moths to show very different patterns on the upper and lower sides of the wings. We also found several Monarch caterpillars this summer and, a couple of weeks ago, I posted photos and video of them emerging as adult butterflies.

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This is a White Admiral butterfly resting on the side of a pine tree.

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Tiger Swallowtails were a common sight in our wildflower garden.

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This Great Spangled Fritillary is checking out a Purple Coneflower growing on the hill near our wind turbine.

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Here’s another photo of a Great Spangled Fritillary on a coneflower. This is my favorite insect photo from this summer. In fact, I like it so much, I’m using it as the cover photo for my 2019 Nature Calendar. See the calendar by clicking this link. http://www.etsy.com/shop/EarlOrfPhotos

ButterflyFritillaryGreatSpangledPurpleConeflowerFieldwindturbineDunningLakeItascaCounty20180810