Carissa Conti (@Carissa_Conti)

Time for some pics.... We'll do a butterfly theme, since I've been fortunate enough to serendipitously capture four interesting and rare-ish species recently in our apartment complex's courtyard. 1.  White Peacock - Boca Raton, December 2025. Can count on one hand how many times I've ever seen one of these in life.  So this was a rare treat. 2. Dryas Iulia/"Julia" - Boca Raton, November 2025  Have never even seen one of these before ever.   Had to do a Bing reverse image search to figure it out. !  Before I headed out to the courtyard on a whim that day I had the thought that "I'll see an orange butterfly..." but just assumed it would be another Gulf Fritillary.  Turned out to be this new species.  Makes sense in retrospect why my intuition could only see "orange butterfly" because it didn't recognize what species it was.   3. Monarch - Boca Raton, December 2025.  First time seeing one of these here in our apartment complex, so this was a treat.   From a distance I thought it was another Gulf Fritillary, then I zoomed in and saw the spots and was like "!!"   Have to be careful though tromping through the grass in shorts and sandals with bare legs to get my shots, since it's also bee territory.  ;)   4.  Gulf Fritillary - Boca Raton, October 2025.  Another rare sighting.  Have only seen one of these maybe three times total in life.   Of the four species featured here this one was the least skittish.  It was flying all around right next to me, landing on flowers and just doing its thing, relatively unconcerned with me being so close and allowing for some really great shots from all angles, unlike the other species that are all more skittish.  With the others it's like, get your shots where you can because these things are NOT cooperating.  ;D