Fall is either here or just around the corner depending on whether you consider it beginning on September 1 or on the equinox (September 22 this year). Some of you living further north are beginning to see some leaves changing color and maybe some slightly cooler weather. Down here in the southern United States, the weather and temperatures aren’t much different than they’ve been, but we are starting to see some of our fall wildflowers beginning to bloom. And with those wildflowers we are also seeing fall pollinators, including butterflies. Each generation of butterflies are called a flight, and there are a number of species that have multiple flights each year. For example, the gulf fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) is quite common in the spring, but we see very few of them most of the summer. Now that fall is approaching, the next generation or flight, is beginning to appear. They happen to be very fond of the blackjack flowers that grow in my yard, so now that they are flowering, I’ve got plenty of butterflies. It’s always enjoyable watching them fly around from flower to flower. Sometimes they stay for just a few seconds while other times they stay for several minutes. Since most of them are recently hatched from the chrysalis they still have gorgeous, bright colors and perfect or nearly perfect wings. As fall continues those that survive with get a little beat up and their color will fade a bit, but they will still be pretty.