What is this guy?
False Monarch ?
Painted Lady Vanessa cardui
Thanks again Ken. I notice that Australia doesn't have them.
We have a bumper crop of Painted Ladies this year because of the rain. They have something to eat for a change. They have been thick along the coast
Lovely butterflies! In Kent we used to get great waves of them coming in battered and bedraggled after emigrating from the continent (europe LOL).
I haven't seen one here in France yet this year, though there were many last year
They were here . lots of them because the California desert had lots of rain this winter. So there were lots more flowers and catapillers to make butterflies that I saw today. That purple flower is my Lavender Lady passion vine in the background.
What a beautiful photo!
The passion vine sets off the colours of the butterfly so well :)
No, the Painted Lady Vanessa cardui is not in Australia, but we have a very close cousin, the Australian Painted Lady Vanessa kershawi. Just about the only difference is that ours has more blue spots at the rear of the hind wings.
Probably somthin' in the water!
Ahh, the Australian Lady looks very similar to the West Coast Lady which also has the blue dots on the hindwing. :)
Interesting thanks kennedyh - and such a good shot to show the difference!
Cool how Rich's critter picked up some of that green from the leaves.