Today, this butterfly landed near me. At first I thought is was something I had not seen before, but then, I could see traces of orange on the topside of the wings. It basically appears to be a black and white monarch. Any ideas?
Strange looking Monarch?
And then several Sulphurs showed up to fill up on the Flame Vine. They seemed to be addicted to the nectar. While I was watching, I noticed, without taking a picture, a greenish cast. Is this normal?
Also, could someone explain the difference between a clouded and cloudless Sulphur?
Thank you.
I forgot to add the Sulphur picture.
Another Sulphur photo.
Well, I'll take a stab at it. I was reading about the scales on butterflies and if they lose a lot of them, they can appear to be black and white. Perhaps your Monarch has lived a long life and is just old and gray? All you lurkers out there, feel free to chime in!
Melanie
Good thinking. But the Monarch doesn't have to be old to be whitish. Look at this:
http://www.monarchwatch.org/read/articles/nivosus.htm
Ooh neat! I can still see a little orange smudge in the picture so I figured it had just lived a long and happy life. That's interesting to know; I'll have to keep an eye out for these rare Monarchs.
Melanie