Butterflies in my Prairie

During the past few weeks I’ve seen an amazing number of butterflies in my small prairie. Normally this time of year I’ll see a few but butterflies but every day for the past several weeks I’ve been seeing large numbers of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, Giant Swallowtails and Red-spotted Purple Admirals. The first batch of summer Monarchs hatched a few weeks ago and they have been very active in large numbers around the farm.

I’ve also been seeing a few Black Swallowtails, Fritillaries, Little Wood-Satyrs,  Northern-Pearly-eyes, Silver-spotted Skippers and Black Swallowtails.

Normally it is difficult to get photos of them this time of year but that hasn’t been a problem this year. Almost all of the butterflies are feeding on the Wild Bergamot that abounds on the farm.

In addition to the large number of butterflies I’ve been seeing a large number of Clearwing Hummingbird Moths around the farm. I’ve been photographing in the same area for six years now and this is the first year I’ve seen Hummingbird Moths.

You can find more butterfly photos on my website.

Giant Swallowtail

Monarch Butterfly

Eastern tiger Swallowtail

Red-spotted Purple

Northern Pearly-eye

Silver-spotted Skipper

Little Wood Satyr

Fritillary

Black Swallowtail

Clearwing Hummingbird Moth

Summer Wildflowers at Hoffman Hills

The midseason summer wildflowers are in full bloom at Hoffman Hills Recreation Area. There are probably 25-30 different wildflowers currently blooming in the prairie. There are also an unusual number of butterflies enjoying the wildflowers.  For the first time I’m also seeing large numbers of Clearwing Hummingbird moths flying about the prairie. If you haven’t been to Hoffman Hills recently you should make the trips. The wildflower display is the best I’ve seen in years.

You can enjoy more photos from Hoffman Hills on my website.

Wildflowers

Coneflower

Monarch Butterfly

Black Swallowtail

Clearwing Hummingbird moth