The Monarch butterfly is gorgeous wherever you see it. This particular one landed on this purple flower in our yard. I clicked away and realized afterward that I had 3 different poses of the Monarch. (Click on blog link to see other 2 photos.)
They are gorgeous however you look at them.
I thought it was pretty cool. What do you think?
If you want to see butterflies and dragonflies, go to Beech Forest Trail in Provincetown. They are everywhere! I saw this beautiful yellow Tiger Swallowtail in a bush near the marsh. It was just close enough to get a decent photograph.
The Tiger Swallowtails are a large butterfly with a wingspan of 3-5.5″. They are overall yellow with black stripes and tails. They live on woodland edges, meadows and parks east of the Rockies.
Have you ever seen a Tiger Swallowtail? So pretty!
I had a little extra time on my way to Provincetown, so I stopped at the Beech Forest Trail to see what I could find. Oh my! Thank goodness I brought my camera! There were birds, butterflies and dragonflies galore! And I didn’t even have to walk more than 10 yards. Wow! (Click on blog link to see other photo.)
This Red-spotted Purple butterfly landed at my feet while I was photographing a dragonfly. I had never seen this gorgeous blue butterfly before, so it was fun to come home and do a little research. I had no idea what it was.
The Red-spotted Purple butterfly is 3-3.5″ and black with iridescent blue at the borders above with several white spots at FW tips. The underside was so totally different with brick-red marks.
Such a cool find… have you ever seen a Red-spotted Purple butterfly?
There is always an abundance of Cabbage White butterflies flitting about on Cape Cod, but I don’t often get two in the same frame. They are usually too busy flying about to land on anything for very long.
Cabbage White butterflies have charcoal wingtips. The females have 2 FW spots while the males have just one. Have you ever seen a Cabbage White? Pretty, don’t you think?
The Monarch butterflies fly all the way up north from Mexico to lay their eggs on the underside of Milkweed plants. These eggs will grow into a beautiful caterpillar like this one which goes through 5 stages and eventually makes its own chrysalis. It will emerge as a gorgeous Monarch butterfly! The new Monarch butterfly will get strong enough to make the journey back south before the weather gets too cold. Amazing, don’t you think?
Have you ever seen a Monarch caterpillar? We had a chrysalis hanging from one of the shingles on our house last fall. I sure hope we see another one this year!
