Orange Sulphur, also known as the alfalfa butterfly. And not to be confused with the Clouded Sulphur butterfly.
Thank you iNaturalist!
iNaturalist is a very cool app that will help me identify plants and creatures of all kinds. After posting and doing my best to determine the identity, secret superpower scientists will pop up on the back side and either correct my guess, or confirm my vast knowledge in plant and critter identities. On rare occasion my always fascinating observation gets ignored, but for the most part, I get my ID made. So awesome!
After posting 187 observations over the past year in a half, what might you think has received the most attention and identification from my secret scientists? (OK, no, they aren’t all scientists, but I’m sure there are some actual scientists helping me out 😁)
Back to my question: What critter has received the highest number of ID’s you ask?
My Northern Black-tailed Rattlesnake! I had ID’d him as a Western Black-Tailed Rattlesnake. I had 8 experts set me straight. It was a pretty awesome rattle snake. In fact, you can see him on my post here if you wish. 😊
Here are the beautiful Orange Sulphur Butterflies. And forgive me… I spent a few hours obsessed with these butterflies. I took a several photos 🦋🦋



I wondered, what is the difference between an Orange Sulphur and a Clouded Sulpher? My internet search brought up this: “The major difference between the clouded sulphur and the orange sulphur is the color shade of their bodies. The wings of clouded sulphurs are mainly lemon yellow whereas the orange sulphur has an orangish hue on their wings.”
So, what do you think about the photos below? Orange or Clouded??


Either way, very cool, very beautiful butterflies! This past summer we had millions fluttering all around us, sometimes like sparkling pixie dust. They are still out there and I will enjoy them as long as I can 🦋🦋🦋
I can’t decide which they are, but either way they are beautiful – such a cheerful sun-shiny colour!
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Thank you Sarah! They are so pretty in the sunshine 😊
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Sulphur never looked so good!
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Thank you!! 😊
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You captured butterflies well … and they are all gone from my region.
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Thank you Frank! We still have a few left around here. We still have stuff “blooming” around here so we’ll see how long it lasts. They are beautiful!
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Thanks for naming those yellow and orange butterflies that we’ve been enjoying all summer!
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They are still out there! …just not as many. We’ll keep watching for them 😊
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What a cool app💥🤯
Butterflies are one of my favorites and literally stop me in my tracks to enjoy them fluttering along 😍
Per the experts, the wings appear lemon yellow so maybe a cloud sulphur? 🤷♀️
Agree with you – they’re beautiful regardless 🤣
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Thank you Teri! I know the one is an Orange, but then when I looked at other photos, it made me wonder… Oh well! …it is a cool app!!
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Such a cool app – They’re beautiful captures Lisa❣️😍😀
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They are beautiful!!
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Thank you! I just loved watching them!
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Wow! So beautiful so soothing colour. Thank you for sharing 🙂🎉
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Thank you!! 😊
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There really has been lots of butterflies this year. They offer such fun to our landscapes. Thanks for the inaturalist info!!! Donna
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Thanks Donna! Yes, I am still seeing butterflies! But fewer varieties. I love them!
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Delicate Sun-kissed Angels. I think I saw the same butterflies in Moss Landing last Summer. They are so happy and playful.
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Thank you so much!
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Wow, they are beautiful and you were able to capture so many. I have a very difficult time trying to capture them….maybe next year.
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Thank you! They were ALL OVER here! A crazy number of butterflies here. I just snapped away like crazy! I was mesmerized watching them. I think we may still have some fluttering around.
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Wow I saw very few all summer, now of course its way too cold here.
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