Butterfly Summer

I know this is a very belated post, but I wanted to show some of the pictures we took this summer of the butterflies in our yard and at Perrot State Park. I suspect it was a good year for butterflies because of the heat.

A dark morph female Tiger Swallowtail enjoying our butterfly bush.

 A Silver-spotted Skipper, also on the butterfly bush. Although that bush is not native, it's not super aggressive and it sure does attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. My mom in Fond du Lac has had trouble with it dying after a few years, but I think Madison is just enough warmer that it's ok.

 A male Tiger Swallowtail chasing a dark morph female Swallowtail by our grapes.

Another Tiger Swallowtail on a native thistle at Perrot State Park.

 A Black Swallowtail.

 A good picture of a male Tiger Swallowtail.

 I'm pretty sure this is a Northern Crescent.

 This one is a Hackberry Emperor.

My biggest disappointment is that we also saw many Giant Swallowtails at Perrot and somehow failed to get a single picture. They are not common and I've never seen one in our yard, so that was a real treat.