Spring Arrrives in Durham Today, Leaves Tomorrow

Today Meg called me from our deck to tell me spring had arrived. Yes it has arrived in Durham, NC. She had seen a male Falcate Orangetip flying by the deck, the orange wing tips of the male we very visible to the naked eye. Our first harbinger of Spring from our porch. She also saw a Mourning Cloak and a anglewing. Anglewing is what we call either a Question Mark or an Eastern Comma these are difficult to tell apart, please check out the links on them to learn more about them.Above the male flies past the female and with her abdomen raised up she is signalling she is not interested in breeding at this time. I've seen this with many kinds of butterflies and wondered what was the deal with her raising up like that.

Many of you might wonder if this little butterfly would visit your garden? Well if you live in the city or in the middle of a subdivision probably not. But if you live near moist woodlands, woodland openings or riparian habitats you just might see this one. There are several species of orangetips in the US even out west they have them.
Here the male easy to tell by the orange tipped wings is on a very common weed Dandelion one of the few flowers in early spring it can find to nectar on.
Above the female is nectaring on Spring Beauties.