Beautiful, but troubling: Monarch Butterflies in Edmonton

[CanadaSue]

audio presentation at the CBC:

http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/news-pr...mental-change/

[DBA]

We have Painted Lady butterflies here regulary, I'm not sure I could tell the difference if one flew past.

[Mama Alanna]

Painted Lady:


Monarch:


---------- Post added at 03:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:45 PM ----------

They are similar, I'd grant you, but painted ladies don't have that complete border of black with white spots, and monarchs don't have the little frills on the lower wings.

---------- Post added at 03:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:47 PM ----------

And I suppose, fluttering past, they'd both just register as 'orange and black butterfly.' They'd have to perch to tell the difference.

[Twoolf]

Big difference in the abdomen and thorax too

[kaneohegirl]

As I sit here in my very very hot house after filling the bird bath and bird feeder realizing that I have had fewer and fewer critter as summer goes on that Maybe they (butterflys) knew it was going to be drought here in the states with extreme heat conditions that would not be condusive for mating and propagation of the species so they flew further north than the norm.

Driving around our area it is really dry with very little live "weeds" that bugs like. summer flowers are scarce and even shopping centers can't keep their flowers alive

So that's my theory... they knew so they flew all the way to edmonton