Butterflies still visiting

The butterflies are still active in our garden, although many plants are going dormant.

Every day I see all day skippers, Gulf fritillaries, Anise swallowtails, Cabbage whites, but not as many monarchs.

Here is a Common Checkered Skipper on the buds of a fennel plant in our field.

There are fewer monarchs flying around, and our native milkweed plants are going dormant.

But now and then we observe monarchs sipping the nectar of an echinacea plant that we have growing in a pot. Whenever a monarch visits the echinacea they spend a long time, at least ten minutes, sipping. As you can see, there are only a few blossoms in bloom.