A fuel stop

The number of butterflies around the garden is still high and one species that I see a lot is the Common Grass Yellow, Eurema hecabe but they are fast flyers flitting along close to the ground and not stopping long when they alight.

Today I was lucky to see one land on a flower to tale a sip of nectar before resuming flight and giving me enough time for a photo.

These butterflies are found mainly in the northern areas of Australia with their south eastern range to about the Sydney area.

Grass yellow on a gum leaf

Quite a lot of butterflies around at present with our continuing summery weather and I have posted photos previously of most. However one that has been fairly elusive as far as getting a photo has been the Common Grass Yellow Eurema hecabe as they seem to be constantly on the move fluttering from plant to plant and hardly alighting for any length of time.

Today I was in luck as I spotted one that was just warming up after a night that was not that cool but a very heavy dew was coating all the vegetation.

male

 They are distributed through the northern half of Australia with to as far south as Sydney where they are found in autumn where as in the north the adults can be found throughout the year.

The larval food plants include many that can be found on our property such as, Breynia, Acacia spp and indigofera.