In Today's Garden

Butterfly - Painted Lady (Vanessa virginiensis)

I had my morning coffee while sitting among this year's crop of volunteer sunflowers. I think they're from the black oil seeds that we put out for the birds. The plants are tall, with lots of small flowers that bloom in sequence over the course of a couple weeks. The yellow finches are already attacking them, starting at the top and pulling off the petals as they drill into the developing seeds.

This Painted Lady came along just as I was leaving, and she hung around for quite a while while I got close and took several pictures.