Location:  Pismo Beach, California
January 26, 2011
Hello Daniel,
I continue to thoroughly enjoy your site — especially here in central Minnesota in January.
In November, my family and I learned the monarch butterflies west of the Rockies spend their winters in coastal California.  We’ve wanted to visit the sites “our” monarchs use in Mexico, but that’s very expensive and currently too dangerous.  I know yours is not a travel site, but we learned of this place quite by accident, and I’m sure other bug nuts would appreciate learning about Pismo State Beach, and the other sites there.  Perhaps you need to add a “travel section” to WTB.
I could tell you much more about our trip to your state.  Beyond seeing thousands of monarchs, it was very interesting to see how many of the butterflies there are tagged.  We observed four or five different-colored circular tags, and many butterflies marked by coloring in a cell on the rear right wing with a Sharpee marker.  This is done by those keeping track of the number of butterflies using the site (around 20,000).
Anyway, the Pismo site is very accessible to anyone and easy to find.  The butterflies are there from November through February, depending on the weather.
You can learn more at: http://www.monarchbutterfly.org/
Thanks for your continuing excellent work.
Don J. Dinndorf
St. Augusta, MN

Monarch Butterflies Roosting

Hi Don,
Thanks for your wonderful letter.  It is interesting that these Monarchs are roosting in a eucalyptus tree which is not native to California.  Though I have never visited one of the roosting sites, I did have the distinct pleasure of seeing migrating Monarchs roosting in a tree in Roosevelt Park in Youngstown, Ohio as a child.  It was an awesome sight.

Tagged Monarch Roosting with coevals

Hello again, Daniel.  Thanks for your quick reply.
A graduate student studying the Pismo monarchs told us the monarch used to roost in cyprus trees there.  But the pioneers cut those trees down, and planted eucalyptus.  The “new” trees leaves are glossy, and she told us the butterflies have a hard time getting a grip, sometimes falling right off.  The State Park is trying to re-establish some cyprus there.
Interestingly, the grad student also said when they are counting the butterlfies, they have to double their estimate for those clusters on the cyprus, because the monarchs group so much more tightly on their original tree species.
Thanks again.
Don

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Orange Cruiser Butterfly of some sort?
Location: Pulau Tioman, Malaysia
January 18, 2011 12:36 am
This is another that I ran across in Malaysia this summer. Looks like it is a Vindula of some sort, but all the pictures I’m seeing aren’t as orange, and don’t have as many eye-spots.
Searching Orange Cruiser gets me more bicycles than bugs.
A splash of color for winter, anyway.
Signature: Bert

Cruiser

Dear Bert,
Your identification is correct.  This is a Cruiser, Vindula dejone, which we identified on the Butterflies of Malaysia website.  There is often individual variation within a species, and your specimen may appear especially vivid if it is a newly metamorphosed individual that has not lost any of the scales on its wings yet.  This individual on FlickR is showing some wear and tear and is not as brightly colored as the individual in your photo.

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Life (and death) in a milkweed patch

Monarch on Milkweed

Life (and death) in a milkweed patch
Location:  Manitoba’s Birds Hill Provincial Park, Canada
December 28, 2010
Hi Daniel:
Every July tens of thousands of people descend on Manitoba’s Birds Hill Provincial Park for one of Canada’s, and North America’s, oldest and largest folk festivals (we haven’t missed it for more than 30 years!). In 2006 I discovered the most impressive milkweed patch I have ever seen, wedged between a parking lot and an oak forest, and was thrilled with the abundant and diverse bug life I found there. …  If you or any of your readers are interested, I have uploaded a collection of photos taken at this location since 2006 (with more to follow next year, I am sure). I am still working on some of the identifications and I am not certain about some of the ones I have inserted, so any comments or suggestions would be welcomed and appreciated. Regards.  Karl

White Admiral on Milkweed

Hi Karl,
We will let you know if we post any of your other wonderful images.

Common Wood Nymph on Milkweed

Go ahead and borrow anything you like, or let me know if you have anything specific in mind. I have thousands of photos that I have been meaning to organize and perhaps upload, but I just haven’t been able to find the time. Perhaps next year.  Have a great new year! K

Comma on Milkweed

Hi Karl,
You have so many wonderful images.  We decided to concentrate on only the Brush Footed Butterflies in the family Nymphalidae that you have photographed, including the Monarch, White Admiral, Common Wood Nymph, Comma and Great Spangled Fritillary.

Great Spangled Fritillary

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Identification Please
Location: Tucson, AZ
December 22, 2010 4:52 pm
Dear Bugman,
I photographed these two insects and I need an identification. The first one is of a butterfly that I took in November. At first I thought it was a monarch but the top wing looked different to me. The second photo is of a insect on Mt. Lemmon, Tucson, and it was taken in July of last year. Thank you so much
Signature: -Harrison

Queen

Hi Harrison,
You were observant to notice the difference between a Monarch and your butterfly, the closely related Queen.  You can read more about the Queen, Danaus gilippus, on BugGuide.

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