Queen and Monarch Butterflies

Queen and Monarch Butterflies

 

Today I saw a Queen and Monarch butterflies flying around in my backyard, feeding on some dandelions.  I took some pictures from my window.  They were absolutely beautiful!

 

Monarch butterfly feeding on dandelion flower.




Queen butterfly feeding on dandelion flower.



 The Queen butterfly stuck around a little bit longer, so I got another nice picture of it:



Queen butterfly feeding on dandelion flower.

They looked so similar at first when I was taking pictures of them from my window.  However, you can see the difference in the pictures above.  The Monarch butterfly has darker, thicker, black veins on the inside and outside of its wings.  The Queen butterfly has thinner black veins only on the outside of its wings.  The Queen also has smaller white dots on the inside and outside of it's wings.  Another difference to note is that it the Queen butterfly has more of a brown color, and the Monarch butterfly has more of an orange color to the wings.

What Kind of Butterfly is This?

What Kind of Butterfly is This?

 

What kind of butterfly is this?




What kind of butterfly is this?

 

Hawk Moth

Hawk Moth

 

This is a picture of a hawk moth that I saw outside of my window today.

 

 I love the unique color and features that different types of hawk moths have.  All kinds of mixtures of brown are on its wings, like waves.

This one has huge eyes, and legs like a poodle!

 

I also got some pictures from underneath the hawk moth.

 

 

They are strange and beautiful.  Their wings are shaped like an arrow almost.  Hawk moths have a really large abdomen.  I enjoyed watching this moth today and taking pictures.



Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

Today I saw a beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly flying around in my backyard.  It fed on the zenas in my backyard.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

I love the black stripes on these butterflies.  It is amazing to watch them fly.  Eastern Tiger Swallowtail buterflies also have black stripes on their bodies like in the picture above.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly


They have such beautiful colors!

What's That Butterfly?

What's That Butterfly?

Try to guess the butterfly from the clues given below.  If you are ready to see the answer, click here.

 

Clue 1

Butterfly Clue 1

Clue 2

Butterfly Clue 2

 Clue 3

Butterfly Clue 3



Clue 4

Butterfly Clue 4

Clue 5

Butterfly Clue 5

Clue 6

Butterfly Clue 6

 Clue 7

Butterfly Clue 7

Click here to see the answer.

Question Mark Butterfly

Question Mark Butterfly

Today I saw a Question Mark butterfly flying around one of my trees in my backyard.  These butterflies are always flying close to me.




Question Mark Butterfly
 

I love the shape of their wings!  I used to call them leaf butterflies because they blended in so well like a leaf.  The inside of their wings are beautiful.  It contrasts sharply to the light color on the outside.

A picture of the inside wings.

 




Question Mark Butterfly

 

They are beautiful.

 



Today's Butterfly

Today's Butterfly

Snout Nose Butterfly

Today there was a snout nose butterfly resting on a passionflower vine in my backyard.



Snout Nose butterfly



Snout Nose butterfly

It flew away and I found it later on some sandbur.



Snout Nose butterfly

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly



Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly

The butterfly you see here is a pipevine swallowtail.  It's scientific name is Battus Philenor.

I love watching these butterflies fly around the trees in my backyard.  I see their shadows on the grass when I walk around.  They are always hovering above somewhere.  It is truly delightful to observe!

I planted some zenas in my backyard for the butterflies to feed on.  They are barely large enough, but they grow fast.  They will be there in this summer for them to feed on.

The inside wings are a beautiful bright blue color.  The outside wings are black with orange spots.

I love how they just glide through the air.  I will see if I can get a video of this sooner or later.




Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar on host plant

The caterpillars are the funniest looking things.  Whenever I see the large ones, they are always in a hurry.  They crawl so fast!  They are a dark red brown color with some tiny orange spots along the sides, and one orange spot on the head sometimes.

The caterpillars feed on some pipevine in my backyard.  Their eggs are an orange color.

Today's Butterfly

Today's Butterfly

The butterfly I spotted in my backyard today was a Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly.  These two below were on my ash tree.



Pipevine Swallowtail Butterflies

Later I found the caterpillars feeding on some pipevine in my backyard.  I have a picture of them below.



Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillar



Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars