Butterflies And Wildlife » Queen

Sheldon Reservoir Butterflies

texdr — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:13:19 +0000

I took a weekend trip to Sheldon Reservoir since it was fairly close to the house. That place is pretty rustic compared to the parks I have been to previously. I went there mainly to try my hand at shooting some birds, but ended up taking a few Butterfly photos as well.

This first shot is just a partial view of the Reservoir. If you look really close you can see some guy in a boat, but other than that the place was deserted.

Sheldon Reservoir

One particular Butterfly that I don’t have in my backyard, but that was prevalent at this place was the Common Buckeye.

Common Buckeye Sheldon Reservoir

Common Buckeye Sheldon Reservoir 2

I also saw a Queen Butterfly.

Queen Butterfly In Morning Light

There were also a few Monarchs on the Ragweed. This first photo is a female Monarch.

Monarch On Ragweed

And here’s a male Monarch.

Male Monarch On Ragweed

Last, but not least, there were quite a few Gulf Fritillaries. All of the Butterflies were still trying to warm up when I captured these pictures.

Gulf Fritillary Sheldon Reservoir

Monarch And Queen Caterpillars With 7D

texdr — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:36:33 +0000

Got up early this morning since the sun was finally out. Found a few Monarch Caterpillars and a Queen Caterpillar. I haven’t seen the Queen’s flying around, but have seen the Monarchs.

Two Monarch Caterpillars With 7D

Larger size of a different Monarch Caterpillar.

Up Close Monarch Caterpillar With 7D

And here’s the Queen Caterpillar

Queen Caterpillar With 7D

Queen Butterfly On Coneflower

texdr — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:24:53 +0000

We did have a Queen Butterfly hatch from a Chrysalis yesterday. This may be her.

Here’s a Queen Butterfly sipping nectar on a Purple Coneflower.

Queen Sipping Nectar On Coneflower

Here’s another shot

Queen On Coneflower

The Difference Revealed

texdr — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:28:07 +0000

Still wondering about the two Chrysalises? The smaller Chrysalis is a Queen, the larger a Monarch.

What's The Difference?

Two Queen Butterfly Hatched Today

texdr — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:36:37 +0000

Today we had 2 Queen Butterflies hatch today. One was a male and one was a female.

I didn’t particularly care for this shot, but Leecy thought it looked “creative.”

Male And Female Queen Butterflies

Notice how the male Queen Butterfly has those 2 dark spots at the bottom of his wings, just like the Monarch?

Brother And Sister Queen Butterfly

A Queen Is Born!

texdr — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:54:21 +0000

Our first Queen Butterfly hatched today! I must say, she is quite the looker. Previously we had only seen the Queen caterpillars, we never saw any Chrysalises. Right now we have 2 more Queen Butterfly Chrysalises and 1 more Queen caterpillar.

Newly Hatched Queen Butterfly

A Queen Is Born

Queen Butterfly Chrysalis

texdr — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:40:06 +0000

We’re not sure why this particular Queen caterpillar decided to move on to the Chrysalis stage so early. This was a very small caterpillar when it stopped eating and formed a Chrysalis.

You may notice that the Queen Chrysalis looks almost identical to the Monarch Chrysalis

Tiny Queen Chrysalis

OKAY, I Get It!

texdr — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:00:56 +0000

Somebody was trying to send me a message today, and I need to say, message received. I’ve been complaining about the lack of butterfly or any wildlife lately. I should have just had more faith. You already have seen the picture of the Queen Butterfly we saw flying around today. I never could tell if she was actually laying any eggs so tonight I went out to see if I could find some eggs. I did! However, when I examined things a bit closer I was quite thrilled and surprised to see a small caterpillar, a Queen! I guess that Queen butterfly has been around for just a little while if the eggs are already hatching.

I then head over to another Butterfly Bush, the Swamp Milkweed and at first glance it is has aphids. Then sure enough I see another Queen caterpillar.

We collected the two Queens, fresh milkweed, and some of the eggs to raise inside. We’ve never seen the Queens go through the entire developmental process.

I know this is probably a little deep, but I do feel I was being sent some kind of message from somewhere. For days it’s just appeared that there was nothing around and all I did was complain. Today I go out, maintain patience, and lo and behold I see things I’ve never seen before. So the message of the day is don’t give up chasing what you enjoy. You may have to look a little harder, a little longer, but it’s there..just waiting for a visit:-)

Queen Caterpillar July 09

Two Queen Caterpillars

Curled Queen Caterpillar

Butterfly gods Have Heard My Complaints

texdr — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 21:00:49 +0000

We had a new visitor to the garden today. It’s a Queen Butterfly. We’ve never seen the actual Butterfly around the yard, only their caterpillars and that was a couple of years ago. Hopefully she will lay some eggs on the Milkweed today.

Queen Butterfly

This is a picture of the caterpillar from a couple of years ago that I have posted previously.

Queen Caterpillar

Looks Like A Monarch…

texdr — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:44:23 +0000

Look close. Is this a Monarch caterpillar? I’ll give you some clues. It’s crawling up a Milkweed stalk.

The answer is at the bottom of the picture

Queen Caterpillar

Notice the extra set of antennae? A Monarch only has two, a Queen has three. We had two of these appear last year. Never saw the Chrysalis or the actual Butterfly unfortunately