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Monarch Butterfly resting after emerging today

Started 3 months ago | Discussions thread
OP AeroPhotographer Regular Member • Posts: 461
Re: Monarch Butterfly resting after emerging today
1

Male vs Female

Jalapeno's post motivated me to learn how to distinguish Monarch gender.  Males have spots as indicated by the blue arrow below:

Arrow indicates male spots

When Simon first released the Monarch it landed on his shoulder, and is clearly a female.

Female Monarch lacks spots

It flew off and a minute later a Monarch appeared on the Milkweed.  We assumed it was the same one we had just released.  I shot many pics of it on the Milkweed, including the shot with the blue arrow, which of course is a male.  So it wasn't the same (female) Monarch which we released a minute earlier.

Later in the day we saw a Monarch about a half mile away.  So they are in our neighborhood.

Alan

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