Last week on my way home I discovered a beautiful climbing aster bush on the banks of the Wacassassa River. When I stopped to take some photos of it, I realized that not only was it loaded with flowers, but those flowers were loaded with pollinators. There were tons of bees and wasps, which I expected, but I was surprised to discover quite a few butterflies, too. It’s getting late in the year for butterflies, even in central Florida, so finding them was a real bonus. There were also a number of butterfly species, but the majority of them were these gorgeous pearl crescents (Phyciodes tharos), which are a type of brushfooted butterfly. Needless to say, what I had expected to be a short stop for some flower photos, turned into well over an hour, and I probably could have stayed longer. Of all the photos I took, this was one of my favorites because it captured both the butterfly and a western honey bee (Apis mellifera) both sharing a single flower. It’s nice to see animals in nature, especially two different species, sharing a resource.