I've taken over 1400 shots in the last two days of what I thought were Monarchs only to have it suggested to me by the Monarch reporting site this morning that perhaps I'm seeing Queens and not Monarchs at all. I sent them a photo and then started researching Monarch look-alikes and, sniff, my Monarchs don't appear to be Monarchs but Queens! I swear, Queens look more like Monarchs than Monarchs do!
Click here for a slide show lesson on identifying Monarchs.
I love my Queens all the same and it's still a remarkable phenomena as far as I'm concerned. I shot several different butterfly species yesterday and can't wait to get them up. I even saw this lime-green and black zebra striped thing that made me GASP but I couldn't get my camera up fast enough.
It's like Spring here, y'all. It's better than Spring because it's a little cooler than Spring normally is! Spring is really just summer in Texas. But the Fall is really very Spring-like. As proof of our Fall-Spring, I've taken several photos of the many blooming things on the farm.
Man, I'm so bummed. But still excited about all the butterfly photos.
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![Anthanassa [Phyciodes] Texana](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4Lbs7zAS05g/SPADFsXulYI/AAAAAAAACrU/w0fr3dKJw1A/S1600-R/Anthanassa+Phyciodes+texana.jpg)
2 comments:
In your research you should have found that Queens and Monarchs are very closely related, perhaps brother and sister in the speices. Their catepillar looks near identical, they eat the same plant, they have the same defense mechanisms. The only difference I am aware of ends up being the placement of the spots. The monarch has spots only in areas of black while the queen can have them in any color location. Yet the Viceroy Butterfly would then also cause confusion. Personally I wouldn't fret, few of us know the difference and out of that few, fewer care (I am into etymology not entomology). To me, they are all Monarchs and the photo's are BEAUTIFUL!
You da bomb Spirit!
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