White Peacock

I just love to stop here and look at all the pretty pictures posted by a pretty girl.

Actually I know you are more liberated than that so I take it all back.

Beautiful picture...could you put more info. with the pictures such as area range,what flowers attact each species,migration destination/or not,just a lil'detail would be nice. So glad you're posting more!

Diane in Ohio,
Just Google the name of each butterfly, and you will find information on range and host plants, etc. Butterflies are said to be less discriminating in their nectar choices, but I have seen Monarchs at times turn down nectar-rich flowers in a meadow being visited by the other butterfly species to concentrate exclusively on bull thistle. I have seen reports to the effect that some butterflies have hard-wired color biases in the flowers they will visit preferentially subject to later learning. When I was in Sisters, OR last July, I saw Western Tiger Swallowtails visiting flower-filled swinging baskets that festoon the downtown, and the swallowtails were eschewing all the flowers except for a red phlox cultivar, which apparently was either very attractive to them visually or the source of the best nectar reward or both. The best way to investigate these issues is to prepare a pollinator garden in your own backyard, nearby park, or unused and unsupervised vacant land (the last I term "guerilla gardening"). I like to use as many native flowering plants as possible subject to the caveat that some natives have a short bloom, necessitating one's cultivation of plants that bloom at different parts of the growing season. But the best way to get butterflies to the garden is to plant their larval host plants. Right now I have a white-form Large Orange female visiting Christmas senna in my own garden to oviposit. Milkweeds are a given, too, for Monarchs, either for migration or for summering populations, depending on where you live. We seem to have a small, almost-year-round population of Monarchs here in Houston, for example. I keep tropical milkweed for them, ASCLEPIAS CURASSAVICA, growing almost all the time. The tropical milkweed does not senesce in the earlier fall as does the native A. TUBEROSA. We also have a diminutive, narrow-leafed milkweed growing wild here, but I have not had the chance to test it in the garden.

Thank-you Biosparite! I do google alot from Devorahs' Blog, as I am no scientist,and find it helps to understand things better or to see an image.You have an amazing camera,and a good eye for a great picture!!:o)