The Painted Lady is the world’s most common and abundant butterfly. Since Painted Ladies cannot
survive extreme cold, they often migrate south in winter and north in summer, their numbers estimated in the hundreds of millions, from Africa to Finland, from Mexico to Canada.
We like the abundance. We like to be overwhelmed, that Paleolithic thrill (without the danger) of being human in a world not dominated by humans.
The larvae of Painted Ladies also migrate. But that’s just too wonderful.