Saturday 15 September 2012

Butterflies are free

and they will fly away, but are they royal officials or royalty: viceroys or monarchs?
I've been having a heck of a time trying to photograph them. The big thing is figuring out the Viceroy vs. Monarch. Can you spot the differences?
Luck plays into it: preparation meeting opportunity. Part of it, too, is anticipating what they will do and where they will fly.
Journey North is tracking the fall migration of Monarchs. The Viceroys, apparently, aren't as important being officials only!





The difference is a stripe across the lower wing. CLick here for BAMONA's images.
One needs to work with good info to make reports on 'Journey North.' There is also, BugGuide.net to help us amateurs ID our little friends!

5 comments:

Linda said...

Even with a guidebook in hand, I frequently can't tell the difference at first glance! It is fun photographing them, though!

Linda said...

For a few years we participated in the school program for the migration of butterflies. What fun in the spring to get butterflies back from participants in other parts of the world.

Red said...

I think it was you who said there was a place to send in a photo and they would identify the creature???
I really like the Cornell site for birds.

Kay said...

I used to see monarchs all the time while growing up in Hawaii. They were extremely common. Now I RARELY see them. It's sad.

Christine said...

Jenn this is a really subtle difference, it escapes me! Well, I googled it and there's no way I would notice this when they are flying around, lol.