We probably won't see the Gulf Fritilliary  (Agraulis vanillae) laying eggs any more this year on our passion flower vine.

Cool weather has set in, the rains are coming, and the butterfly season is ending.

But just for a little while, the Gulf Frit obliged us with its shadow. It fluttered over our passion flower vine and then soared over a fence, just ahead of its shadow.

 Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, says the Gulf Frit was introduced into southern California in the 19th century, and was first recorded in the Bay Area before 1908. Sacramento area residents saw a lot of it in the 1960s, but not in the 1970s, '80s and '90s. It disappeared.

But, since 2009, it's been making a comeback.

And leaving behind its shadow...