ORANGE PARK – Just like the Monarch butterfly, the Cloudless Sulphur butterfly is migratory; it just doesn’t go quite as far. In the fall, starting around the first of September, millions of the Cloudless Sulphur butterflies migrate southward to Florida for the winter. This is an annual event for the Sunshine State.

Be on the lookout for a large bright yellow-colored butterfly. You may see many crossing highways, fields, parks, and schools and gathering nectar in flower gardens. It is fast and has a powerful flight.

The adult butterfly has an extremely long proboscis, just like a hummingbird, and can feed at many long tubular flowers as shown in the photo. This butterfly was gathering nectar from my red Mandevilla plant, which has deep-throated red flowers.

Studies have shown that a small number of these butterflies do spend the winter in the northern Florida area, residing in the woods and appearing only on the warmest of days.\