Had a lovely surprise in the garden, this afternoon. Spotted a Australian Admiral aka Yellow Admiral (kahukowhai in Maori, New Zealand). I knew I’d seen this type here before, but not a living specimen. I blogged about finding a dead one on my car bonnet one morn.
I found this butterfly on top of my car after a night of rain. Unfortunately, it was missing bits and I’m pretty sure it was dead. I put it on top of my wheelie bin for photos.(Nikon D3000)
It is another of our painted lady butterflies – the Vanessa itea – the Australian admiral aka yellow admiral. I can’t recall seeing one before.
Wikipedia says…
The yellow admiral or Australian admiral (Vanessa itea) is a butterfly native to Australia, New Zealand, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Islands. The Māori name is kahukowhai, which means “yellow cloak”. The yellow admiral is a member of the family Nymphalidae, the sub-family Nymphalinae as well as the tribe Nymphalini.
The pretty grapevine moth has returned but I’m unable to catch it settled enough for a photo. There is also an orange butterfly with the blue wing eyes that I photographed a year or two ago (I’ll share those photos tomorrow) and I’ve been chasing around a pair of lovely frilly looking white butterflies with black edges on their wings.
Thanks for looking. I’ll try to get around to a few blogs over the coming days, so don’t get too big a shock if you see me!
Have a good day. 🙂
Christine R 
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