Of all the butterflies I saw in the meadow, the most eye-catching are surely the Monarchs and Viceroys, so I saved them for their own post. The Monarch (Danaus plexippus) must be one of the most recognised and well-loved of butterflies and it was lovely to see a dozen and more drifting majestically from flower to flower. Along with the Monarchs were an equal number of their look-alikes, the Viceroys (Limenitis archippus). I even found one of each species together on boneset, above.
Viceroy (Limenitis archippus)
Viceroys are a bit smaller than Monarchs but the easiest way to tell them apart is to look for the black line that loops across the Viceroy’s hindwing. This line doesn’t appear on a Monarch’s wing. The line can be spotted whether the wings are open or closed. Viceroys aren’t closely related to Monarchs, but derive some protection from predators by mimicking the colour of the larger butterfly, well-known for its noxious qualities. It is now thought that the Viceroy may be equally distasteful to predators in its own right.
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
Monarchs are milkweed specialists. The larvae derive chemicals from feeding on the milkweed plants that make even the adult butterflies very distasteful to most predators. In studies, it was found that just one taste was enough to teach birds to avoid Monarchs and their mimics, the Viceroys, as well. The migration of the Monarchs is one of the wonders of the natural world. Each year, millions of monarchs from eastern and central North America migrate to the mountain forests of Mexico for the winter. In spring, they begin to move north, stopping to breed when they find milkweed.
Willow House Chronicles 
They are the most beautiful of butterflies, I think.
What beautiful pictures!
Lovely photos – I especially like the first one.
Viceroys: smaller but more stained glass. Got it.
Thanks, everyone. Stained glass, eh? Good analogy.
one or the other (i will now be able to tell them apart, next time) fluttered around me in the garden yesterday. i love their movement, it seems almost unreal, as if they are tied to a string and bobbed up and down… so pretty, fluttery, and definitely eye catching. thanks for sharing.
barefootheart — this post featured the butterflies that I have been concerned about this summer. I live in a part woods — part meadow/field environment and have witnessed monarchs/viceroys over the last couple years that I have lived here. I changed my pasture area to a natural growing meadow/field (back to its wild state). The result was a massive array of wild plants including lots of milkweed. I therefore rather expected to see the monarchs et al. But no — not any. This lack of puzzles me?
Hi Barbara – Mom’s away this week but asked me to respond to your question. How long has your pasture area been naturalized? If it’s only been recently, say a couple of years, it might not be anything to do with your habitat at all. From what I understand, the overall eastern Monarch population, which winters at just a few sites in central Mexico, has had a rough couple of winters. The fact that all the butterflies concentrate in small areas allows for annual monitoring, and I gather numbers were particularly low this past winter. Now, whether that has something to do with something that took place on the wintering grounds, or whether something about the last couple of summers has contributed to depressed population levels even before the butterflies reached Mexico, I’m not well-enough versed in Monarch news to know. It could be that if your area has had a couple of particularly dry (or particularly wet) summers it’s affected caterpillar survival and possibly discouraged north-bound adults from sticking around in spring.
If you’re still not seeing many Monarchs after a strong winter count in Mexico, then it might be worth puzzling over the habitat. I’ve heard that adult Monarchs prefer to lay their eggs on younger (more tender) plants, and mowing a portion of a field when it’s half-grown will result in more plants of the age/tenderness that Monarchs are looking for when they arrive.
[…] can read the full post and view more photographs of Viceroys and Monarchs by following this link to Royal Butterflies. Viceroys are a bit smaller than Monarchs but the easiest way to tell them apart is to look for the […]