Bug of the Week: Sulphur Butterfly

While picking lemons yesterday morning, I noticed something bright yellow on a leaf.

sulphur-butterfly

It wasn’t a lemon, but a bright yellow-orange butterfly.

I believe it is a Large Orange Sulphur, Phoebis agarithe, which would make sense because we have at least two of the potential host plants in our yard:  desert fern, Lysiloma watsonii and possibly Senna. I will definitely be on the look out for caterpillars in the next few weeks.

Anyway, you can get great butterfly photographs in butterfly houses, but it is even more exciting to catch one resting free.

Do you have sulphur butterflies where you live?

2 Comments

  1. sara

    What a lovely picture! all the more so as I have tried to get a sulphur to sit still long enough for a good shot in the past and know how hard that can be.

  2. Roberta

    Sara,

    The advantage of early morning is that not only is it the best light, but the insects are also moving slowly when it is cool. 🙂

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