An October butterfly

One of our most beautiful butterflies is one that flies during summer into autumn. It is the small orange sulphur.

This small butterfly is hard to photograph as it darts here and there, never sitting long in any one place. It is also very aware of your approach. And if you are lucky enough that one lands right beside you, it will offer you only fleeting opportunities to capture a photo with its wings spread out. Be willing to be generous with your time.

An individual orange sulphur lives as an adult butterfly for only two to four weeks. During our warm months, this butterfly's lifecycle will complete itself going from an egg to to a caterpillar to an adult without ever hibernating. Yet, when temperatures chill in late autumn, they will overwinter as a chrysalis. A female may lay up to 800 or more eggs in her short lifetime.