Fall Comes…

…slowly to the desert but it’s beginning to happen…despite our continuing  heat…

Cloudless Sulphur in my yard, above.

This is a Southern Dogface, above, photographed on September 21, 2014. The only other time I photographed one was exactly one year ago on 9.21.13, same bunch of lantana in our yard. I guess s/he is the true harbinger of autumn in my yard.

Edit: Apparently it’s not a Southern Dogface, it’s a Sleepy Orange so that shoots my cool story. I guess I have to change it to “a member of the Sulphur family of butterflies is the harbinger of autumn here.”

Fiery Skipper, above and below. I’m very grateful to the people who lived in our house before we moved in 20 years ago (this month) because they planted lantana all over the place! Little did I know it would become the focal point of so many of my photos. Our yard would be a lonely place without it.

So all the above Queen butterfly photos were taken at the Desert Botanical Garden last week and then, lo and behold, I went outside this weekend and there in our lantana was another Queen. We have tons of b-flies in our yard but never a Queen before so here’s a few more of my personal Queen. Butterflies looove lantana.

Happy Autumn Equinox!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.