The Painted Lady
Butterfly will rest on the ground or on flowers to get a drink of nectar
to keep them going.
There
is a webpage discussing the link between El Nino and the massive Painted
Lady Butterfly migrations.
Painted Lady Butterflies
come into the yard's adjacent to weedy lots commonly in the Spring.
They thrive on a wide variety of plant material including a number of
plants in the hibiscus family including Lavatera,
Pavonia, Anisodontea,
and Alyogyne. Many of the composites
including cosmos, Erigeron and
aster. The preferred food is the thistle, including Centaurea
gymnocarpa, hence the other name for Vanessa cardui, Thistle Butterfly.
One of the larger Genera of thistles is Carduus. This one is resting on a plum tree in the early spring.
Unfortunately the dwarf nettle is a common weed in this landscape.
First sighting of 2007, Feb 21st.
This
image of the Painted Lady Butterfly and many others are available and
are part of our photo
collection.
