Viceroy and other butterflies ~

A few days ago, I was sitting on my front porch, drinking my coffee, enjoying watching a few butterflies on one of my butterfly bushes, when I notice what I thought was a monarch on it.  I grabbed my camera and when I got closer, I realized it wasn't a monarch at all.  I was a Viceroy!  The very first one I have ever seen, other than at a butterfly house.  I also saw two of them the next day at a little park about 10 miles away, that has a naturalized butterfly area.  There really seems to be a huge decrease in the number of butterflies I am seeing in my yard so far this year.
Today I saw three Tiger Swallowtails, a few skippers, and a few Clearwing hummingbird moths on my largest butterfly bush ~ in the past, I have had as many as a dozen Swallowtails on it at one time.

Viceroy

Viceroy

Great Spangled Frittilary

Red spotted purple

Black Swallowtail ~ male

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Black Swallowtail ~ male

Eastern tailed blues

Skipper

Clearwing hummingbird moths ~ multi-tasking!

Red spotted purple

Clearwing hummingbird moth

Silver spotted skipper

Silver spotted skipper

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail ~ female

Fiery skipper

Eastern tailed blue

Clearwing hummingbird moth

Easter Tiger Swallowtail ~ male

Eastern tailed blue

Eastern tailed blue

This is a garden art deal I purchased at my favorite nursery.

I had been noticing it for years and happened to mention how much I liked it to the gal behind the register.  She looked for a price tag but couldn't find one.  It definitely had some wear (Patina) on it, which gave it a little more character.  She said she'd give it to me for $10.  I couldn't pass it up!

Now it rests in the upper part of my backyard, in the area I let go wild,  throw in some divided plants and wildflower seeds.

Thanks for visiting !