They're Back in Town!

My friend Wynde and I were finishing up on a leisurely lunch when we spotted a beautiful male ruby- throated hummingbird at our feeder. I had set out nectar shortly before we had that last fling of wintry weather that dumped upon us a significant amount of snow.

Then, while out on a walk, we saw around 10 cabbage white butterflies. Checkered whites and mustard whites also fly in our northern climate. White family butterflies over-winter in the pupae stage and are one of the first to emerge, come spring.

Several spring azures, tiny blue butterflies, flitted along the country roadsides around our feet. The first generation of this early emerging butterfly are darker blue in appearance than successive generations.

Why the picture of dandelions, you ask? They are among the few early flowering perennials that are essential for bees and butterflies which bloom before lilacs and mock orange bush, both magnets for these and other hungry insects. --LKR