Photos by Barry Wallace
Two monarch butterflies appear on the same flowering plant in my backyard in King City. These are migrating monarchs which are engaged in intense nectaring after a productive breeding season across the northern range, including Ontario. Declining daylight is a key clue that triggers the monarch's migratory instinct. Migratory (non-breeding) monarchs live up to eight months. Intense feeding now builds body fat to fuel migration and to survive the winter in Mexico. In the second photo below, a monarch shares a feeding spot with a very close bee.
Whenever I see a butterfly picture, I always think of the photo below, which my sister Denise took a couple of years ago in the village of Wemindji, in Quebec, on the shores of James Bay, where she lives. She captured a precious moment when three fritillary butterflies, close together, posed perfectly for her.
Photo by Denise Georgekish
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Barry Wallace
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