Northern Pearly-eye

I spent a little time this afternoon out in the garden chasing butterflies. There are suddenly oodles of them - of all different sorts - about. This one has always appealed to me, but unlike the Swallowtails they don't seem to be attracted to the Buddleia. And getting them to sit still long enough for a photograph seems always to be tricky. And I'm not sure I've ever seen one sitting with its wings open, now that I think about it.

The extra is not a fabulous photograph, but it is the first Monarch I've seen this year! A nice fresh looking one. It was flittering about near my Milkweed plants, but never actually landed on them. I chased it around for a while, and this was the best I got.