In article ,
"James Lee Johnson" wrote:

OmManiPadmeOmelet wrote:
|| Not sure what species, but here is a small one taking a break
|| on a bindweed flower in my yard:
||
|| http://tinypic.com/211syuw.jpg

Om, is that butterfly more orange than it appears to be in the picture?

Yes, when it's wings are spread. ;-)
You know how that goes!


Does it look anything like this?
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1893

No, that one is way larger.
That blossom is only about 1" in diameter.

Funny, the swarms are pretty well gone, except for only asiatic jasmine
and my grape vines! They swarmed me in the back yard this morning when I
was hand watering. G They were thirsty as hell it seems. Poor things!
We need rain....


I saw some burnt orange butterflys in a private garden in Lakeway on
Wednesday. I thought maybe they were snouts but I can't find any pictures
of snouts that are the same pattern. A distinct feature I noticed is the
upperside of the hindwings of the butterflies seemed mostly orange, whereas
the underside of the hindwings had prominent black veins.

These are pretty tiny, maybe 1" in length at most. I keep finding dead
ones now covered in ants. :-(


I thought them too small to be Queen butterflys. However, the above site
indicates the Queen butterfly wingspan can range from 2 5/8 to 3 7/8
inches. So Queen butterflies CAN be smaller than I thought. I've not found
any other pictures that looked more similar than the Queen butterflies in
the above reference. Even the patterning of the white dots is similar to the
butterflys I saw.

j jhnsn

These are pretty tiny. I think the earlier identification of some type
of skipper was accurate.

Thanks!
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

"OmManiPadmeOmelet" wrote:
No, that one is way larger.
That blossom is only about 1" in diameter.

Wow, that one is tiny. The orange butterflies I saw in Lakeway had about a
2" wingspan, which is why I didn't believe they could be Queen butterflys.
None of the skippers in the book we had looked the same.

j jhnsn

In article ,
"James Lee Johnson" wrote:

"OmManiPadmeOmelet" wrote:
No, that one is way larger.
That blossom is only about 1" in diameter.

Wow, that one is tiny. The orange butterflies I saw in Lakeway had about a
2" wingspan, which is why I didn't believe they could be Queen butterflys.
None of the skippers in the book we had looked the same.

j jhnsn

I dunno what exactly they are... :-)
The Order Lepidoptera contains oh so many families etc. G

There are hundreds currently competing for water in the yard. We just
strung a new soaker hose in the herb garden.

Poor little things!

I'm enjoying them tho' but I wish I had more flowers.

I'm going to go to the store in the morning and pick up some fresh fruit
and put out some butterfly feeders. I feel sorry for them.
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson