Monarch on the Joe-Pye Weed

It was a sweet sight to observe a monarch butterfly on some pollinator-friendly, native Joe-Pye Weed (Eutrochium) in our garden today -- the first confirmed monarch sighting here in several years. We have quite a few milkweed plants, although they are not growing where there is enough sun for them to produce flowers. These photos were taken through my living room window on an overcast day.

Midsummer Prairie - But Where Are the Bees and Butterflies?

Yesterday I took a long, leisurely walk through prairie and oak savanna habitats in Carleton College's Cowling Arboretum. It was a day that seemed to presage autumn, with moderate temperatures and a good breeze pushing clouds that occasionally looked stormy, though we got no rain.

Compass plant is the tallest flower on the scene, routinely reaching
 5-6' or more.

Lush mix of grasses and flowering plants

I think this is hoary vervain (Verbena
 stricta).  I'm sure someone will let me know if it's not.

Purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea) and grasses blowing in the wind

But where were the bees and butterflies? Granted, it was a windy day, which probably accounts for a good part of the quiet, but at least low down among the thick stems I would have expected to see the landscape busy with insect activity -- but I barely saw any.

In fact, I've seen very few butterflies or bees at all this year. At home, my flowering thyme, bee balm and Joe Pye weed should be humming with bees, but I've seen only a couple here and there, and a couple of butterflies. There are many factors at play, including our cold spring, but something certainly doesn't feel right.

Yellow Swallowtail

The eastern tiger swallowtail is one of the eastern United States' most familiar butterflies, and large and beautiful it is indeed. Tuesday afternoon, one (a female, I believe, based on the blue areas that can be seen on the hindwing) flitted from coneflower to coneflower outside our living room window. I don't know much about butterflies, but in reading enough to write about them here, I learned that although the male tiger swallowtail is always yellow, the females can be either yellow (with the distinguishing blue decoration) or virtually black.

Monarch Close-up

I decided I could get even closer-up in cropping my butterfly photos.

Monarch on Coneflowers

This monarch butterfly was enjoying the coneflowers in front of our living room window this afternoon. It was a rare time that a butterfly sat nicely to have its photo taken; the admirals we've noticed recently seem to sit with their wings erect so the colorful sides aren't very visible.