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Butterfly
Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 7:53 PM
We noticed a bunch of these butterflies today. It was sunny and quite warm for the Oregon coast. Temp about 70 degrees.
Our location is Bandon, Oregon, about 70 miles up the coast from the California border.
The width of the butterfly is about 1.75 inches across the wingtips.
Andy Christensen
Bandon, Oregon, USA

Painted Lady

Hi Andy,
You witnessed the annual spring migration of the Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui.  According to Geffrey Glassberg in Butterflies Through Binoculars:  The West “Each year Painted Ladies stream out of northern Mexico during March and April in often impressive swarms to repopulate the West.  Numbers of butterflies, and the extent of the territory they reach, vary widely from year to year.  This is the most cosmopolitan butterfly in the world.”

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