This morning our front yard was all aflutter.

california-patch-22Many of our flowers were covered with small orange and brown butterflies. I counted at least eight at once.

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I recognized that they were California patch butterflies, Chlosyne californica, which in spite of their common name occur in Arizona, too.

 

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Looks like they might be migrating, as some of them were quite tattered.

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They were fueling up on every flower they could find, particularly the rush milkweeds.

I was lucky to have seen them, because by noon they were all gone. Wonder where they are going.

Have you ever seen a butterfly migration?