A few years back, there was a week or two — right around this time of the year — when almost every step I took in the Sandia foothills sent up a veritable cloud of painted lady butterflies. It was an amazing and magical experience.
This spring? There are fewer butterflies in the foothills than I think I’ve ever seen. That phenomenon might be related to the fact that very few flowers have bloomed in the foothills this year. There’s virtually no butterfly food available.
One recent exception was the variegated fritillary nectaring on wire lettuce flowers (above and below).
Earlier in the year, I noticed a marine blue browsing on some bladderpod.1 I love the glitter around each of its eyespots.
Marine blues aren’t very blue, especially considering they’re … blues. As for bladderpod, it’s generally one of the earliest bloomers in the foothills — but I didn’t see any this year until late in April, when I took these photos.
I was delighted to see a small orange butterfly flitting around in the grass just a couple of weeks ago. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen it before — it’s called a fulvia checkerspot. Its color-coordinated abdomen with pinstripes is quite impressive.
Scientists have a theory about why so many butterflies are orange. Monarchs, which are also orange, feed on milkweed, which makes them poisonous to predators. Queens (closely related to monarchs) are poisonous as well. While most orange butterflies are not poisonous, scientists speculate that predators may see their orange colors and steer clear anyway … just in case.
Above, a butterfly that always delights me — either a tiger swallowtail or a two-tailed swallowtail.2 The two look very similar, and I’m always happy to get a shot of either one. They seem to especially like purple and pink flowers.
Speaking of which, I was sure I had never seen these particular flowers before. They were at the north end of the Sandias, at about 6300 feet. There were multiple slender branches about 5-6 feet tall which were growing straight up, and each branch was almost completely covered with these tiny flowers.
I did eventually figure out what they were, thanks to iNaturalist. Turns out I’ve seen the same flowers many times previously but, since they weren’t even remotely where I’d expect to see them, and because the plants were all fairly young, I just couldn’t make the connection on my own.
A gold star to anyone who knows what they are (without inputting the photo to iNaturalist or something similar). I’ll give you two small hints: they were near Tunnel Springs in Placitas, and it was late April.
You can see one of the pods that give bladderpod its name immediately beneath the butterfly’s antennae (upper photo).
My guess is two-tailed.
Amazed at your findings with the lack of rain and so dry!!!!
The glory of nature is beyond words - thanks Lisa - such beauty!