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
Philip Schwarz Photography Blog 