The Nature Photography Thread

[guidofatherof5]

These monarchs are a real blessing to my family.
Teaches so much. It's a great experience for all of us.

[ConcinusMan]

Wow, neat! I wish we could have them here even if they had to be shipped, but we can't. Dept. of Agriculture would have a fit.

[guidofatherof5]

She's been feeding and getting ready for her Southern flight.
This is a female.


This is a male Monarch. Notice the two dark dots on the back wings.
Notice the female in the second photo is without those wing dots.

[ConcinusMan]

She's beautiful

[Mommy2many]

I miss having them. We used to have so many of them here, that you couldn't keep count. That was 40 years ago. Now, I can't find any or seldom do come across even one. I see the butterflies but not en-masse.

I used to love watching them hatch and "drip dry". They are really a beautiful creature to raise and set free. And to think, they travel all the way to Mexico. Amazing.

[ConcinusMan]

And to think, they travel all the way to Mexico.

Not all of them. I used to see this every winter in coastal CA. Even as far north as Monterey. San Diego county is another really good spot to see this. Plenty of Eucalyptus trees for them to roost in. Of course, that darn near is Mexico. There they would stay all winter long until spring and then wow, what a show when they start to fly around.

[RedSidedSPR]

wow.

[kibakiba]

Great job Gabby!

Those monarchs are really cool butterflies.
My mom said she saw a blue monarch once when she wasn't living in WA. Do you think she's telling the truth?

[ConcinusMan]

You mean like this one? Blue Monarch | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Another extremely rare color is greyish white where orange should be. I've seen them so pale before (they stand out in those groups of overwintering ones) that it was dang near colorless but I've never seen a blue one.

[kibakiba]

Hah. No, she said it was blue where the orange should be, with a little bit of orange flecking. I'm not sure I believe her anyways, because around the time she wasn't in WA, she was... I guess a hippy doing typical things like drugs. So, I'm not sure if it was the drugs or anything real.