Dorsal view of a queen

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In case you were wondering whether the butterfly in the last photograph might have been the better-known monarch, a dorsal view shows the difference. Notice that the left hind wing is slightly torn and that through the opening a sliver of blue sky is visible.

Like the previous picture, this one is from August 30 along the North Fork of the San Gabriel River near Tejas Camp in Williamson County, where a bunch of queen butterflies were attracted to the little flowers of snow-on-the-mountain, Euphorbia marginata.

(This photograph reminds me that when I was growing up in Nassau County, New York, the police cars there were painted orange and blue.)

© 2012 Steven Schwartzman

A queen among wildflowers

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Here’s a second picture to show that while people may not be attracted to the true and tiny flowers of Euphorbia marginata, colorfully known as snow-on-the-mountain, insects are. Yesterday’s evidence was a pair of double-decker wasps at mating time, and today’s is a queen butterfly, Danaus gilippus, fresh and bright and with yellow pollen clinging to its long tongue. This picture is from August 30 along the North Fork of the San Gabriel River near Tejas Camp in Williamson County.

© 2012 Steven Schwartzman