I thought this was a Vanessa virginiensis until I learned that I had choices here. cardui looks the closest. You know the old line that A man with a watch knows what time it is, but a man with two watches never knows. A man looking in a guide with one butterfly that matches his picture says Aha!, but a man looking on the web finds that there are V. virginiensis, V. cardui, and V. anabella to contend with, and they're — as is usually the case — practically identical to one who is no sort of butterfly specialist.
