#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

Red-spotted Purple in the Garden

For most of us in the eastern U.S., there are four common species of dark blue and black butterflies. Three of those species are swallowtails, but one of them isn’t. At first glance, the red-spotted purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax) looks similar to the dark blue and black swallowtails. However, if you give it a second glance, it is easy to tell apart because it lacks the swallowtails!

~ https://www.backyardecology.net/red-spotted-purple-the-dark-blue-and-black-butterfly-that-isnt-a-swallowtail/

Another summer-hot day, cloudy, and a nice time to garden: weed and gather some ferns to transplant. I take the wagon to the wetlands and find a few royal ferns living in the mud that are fairly easy to shovel out into my wagon. I am covered with mud, lose a shoe and then I get two of them transplanted. Need to do more weeding and raking to plant them where I want them. A nice afternoon with Frank, off to a friend’s 80th birthday party. We listen to music and just relax. My daughter is home with a friend and Wave has a friend and we bring take-out Thai food and have a nice dinner. Evening with the kids across the field to the river with Chippie, and Wave dips in the river quite happily before dusk. And I spotted an interesting butterfly in the garden which is always a treat.