Painted Ladies migrate across North America!

This morning, my husband and I stepped out of our house to walk our dogs, and were mobbed by Painted Lady butterflies! Painted Lady hatch-03

There were dozens in our yard, sipping nectar from sunflowers and oregano.

Painted Lady hatch-05As we walked through the neighborhood, the numbers increased. They were everywhere. Delightful!

Painted Lady hatch-02

Painted ladies are on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. (Painted Lady Vanessa cardui) Like the much more famous Monarch butterflies, Painted Ladies use multi-generational migrations. They start in Mexico, and take several generations to move into Canada, then turn around and take several generations to get back to Mexico (at least I think that’s how it works…) They do the same thing in Europe, migrating to tropical Africa. Nature Nut: Have you seen the painted ladies ‘invasion’? Nobody knows how they know where to go.Painted Lady hatch-11

They do this every year. Some years, the migration is bigger. And some years, like this year, the migration is enormous.

Painted Lady hatch-04

Happy to have seen it.

7 responses to “Painted Ladies migrate across North America!”

  1. Beautiful photos, Amy! Thank you for sharing your experience and expertise!

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  2. Also, how do you still have sunflowers in bloom? Mine are gone, gone, gone.

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  3. These beauties have been so prolific this season and much to my delight. Was just thinking how many there have been but only 3 Swallowtails all season. Still, the pretty orange flitting from plant to plant is a joy to watch. Just wish they’d cooperate a bit more with some stationary posing-mine seem to dash off before I can get my camera focused on their pretty little selves. 🦋

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  4. […] After seeing thousands of painted lady butterflies a couple of weeks ago, I thought they were done for the season.Painted Ladies migrate across North America! […]

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  5. Love the pics,never knew the butterflies were called painted ladies.Thanks

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  6. […] and overwinters in the same trees its ancestors did last year. As with other butterfly species (Painted Ladies migrate across North America!), nobody knows how they do […]

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  7. […] Monarchs (Monarch Butterfly Migration) or Painted Ladies (Painted Ladies migrate across North America! Painted Ladies Part Two), swallowtails only produce one generation a season. The adult swallowtails […]

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