We were away in South Carolina running two butterfly counts (in their 20th year – a whole other butterfly-rich story to tell). Upon our return on August 29th, we found our garden swimming in Painted Ladies. We tallied 21, far more than we’d ever seen in our garden before.
To give you a feel for just how unusual this was, we never saw a single Painted Lady in our garden in 2011 and only 9 in 2010.
Much to our amazement, numbers steadily rose each day: 35 on August 30, 54 on August 31, and 70 on September 1. Numbers held steady at 70 for a few days, then shot up to 106 on September 5. Clouds of butterflies lifted, scattered, and settled back on blooming Sedum and other plants as we slowly and reverently walked through our magic garden.
We were told there were thousands of Painted Ladies at lands end, Cape May Point.
A cold front hit on September 6, bringing rain and “raining” migrant songbirds. Our garden filled up with hungry Common Yellowthroats and other warblers and flycatchers. They feasted on butterflies and moths and the wealth of other pollinators in the garden.
Since then Painted Lady numbers have slowly nudged back up to 60. Not the 106 of September 5, but still a sight to behold. It’s quite magical as they lift off, scatter, and settle back on blooming Sedum when we walk through the garden. Throughout all this there have been small numbers of the normally more common American Lady mixed in.
Funnily enough one of our Leopard Frogs has decided that the feasts to be had in the garden are far more desirable than the feasts to be had in the pond. Several times now we’ve found this opportunistic Leopard Frog nestled down in the sedum patiently waiting for an easy snack.
Can’t wait to see how the rest of the fall of 2012 unfolds.
Painted Ladies were formerly called “The Cosmopolite” because they are found on every continent (except Antarctica). Yet, they can not tolerate freezing temperatures in any form (as an egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, or adult). They safely winter on the Mexican Plateau (northern and central Mexico) each winter. By spring they begin to repopulate the US from Mexico. Some years their numbers here in the East are nonexistent, other years very low, and every now and then their numbers are good. But in our 35+ years of watching butterflies and gardening for them, we’ve never seen explosive numbers like these! Robert Michael Pyle shares in his book, the Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies, that these drastic fluctuations from year to year are due to a variety of factors: cycles of parasite attack, caterpillar plant defoliation, and / or superabundance of nectar following heavy winter rains.
It has been wonderful here at Flower Hill too Pat with the same explosion of Painted Ladies, though I have only seen half of what you have in your gardens. There have been many sightings all over the North East including here in Western Massachusetts and all are in clouds of hundreds. Might global warming be part of the formula as to why . . . along with hundreds of sightings of the Giant Swallowtail? Right now more Monarchs are here all over the sedum with only a few Painted Ladies. Beautiful images and great post.
Carol, NEAT time of year isn’t it. I’ll bet the warm winter played a role in the explosion of Painted Ladies. They’re hard hit by freezing temps. This winter they probably survived in record numbers in the wintering sites in Mexico. Then just kept multiplying all spring and summer long until the explosion we’ve enjoyed since the last few days of August.
This yearI planted(for the first time) Mexican Sunflower seed near my back door in Belleplain. Since the end of July we have had a steady parade of Painted Ladies visiting the flower heads. The orange red of the flowers is a lovely compliment to the wing pattern. I plan on planting more Mexican Sunflowers next summer in a larger field.
Ann, YES! Mexican Sunflower is a GREAT nectar plant and, being an annual, blooms for such a long time. Mine’s still in full bloom now in late October and will be until the first hard frost. The Painted Ladies on it must have been spectacular. Thanks for sharing!