Painted ladies are the most widely distributed of all the world's butterflies.   In years with good rainfall (such as the spring of 2005), millions of them migrate out of North American deserts, invading coastal California cities, feeding on flowers as they go (these are on California brittlebrush, Encelia farinosa).   I took these pictures with a long telephoto lens on warm April days at Two Trees Canyon in Riverside, California, and the nearby San Jacinto Wildlife Area.   The dark individual at the bottom of the page was in northeastern Kansas in July.