Butterfly Excitement, Part 3
—We have a Monarch Butterfly! 😍
Much to your delight (I’m sure!), today’s post continues our Monarch Butterfly excitement! 😍
Fifteen days after Hubby’s & my first-ever Monarch pupated (became a chrysalis), our Monarch friend eclosed as a butterfly!!! 🥳 Excitement plus!!! So here it is, lovingly illustrated in my Perpetual Journal:
Here are my photos (not to scale) of one of our recently eclosed Queen Butterflies and the Monarch Butterfly, highlighting three differences:
White Spots: Both species of butterflies have black borders with white spots, but only Queens have additional white spots in the orange part of the wings.
Orange Spots: Only Monarchs have light orange spots as well.
Black Veins: The black veins are more pronounced on Monarchs, at least from these overhead views, though the black veins look more similar in size when their wings are folded.
Are they both beautiful or are they both beautiful (rhetorical question!)?!?? 🥰
💭 Comics Corner
Here’s a fun Half Full comic about a butterfly. The butterfly looks like a Monarch!
More Yard Excitement!
I’m sure you noticed that the 2025 art on my Perpetual Journal page above featured not only the Monarch Butterfly but a Kingsnake as well, which we saw the same day the Monarch eclosed! The nature excitement just never stops in these parts!
We haven’t seen any snakes (of any species) in our yard since at least Fall 2023. Kingsnakes are always welcome here and one of their superpowers is that they’re highly resistant to rattlesnake venom!
Here’s art I created in 2019, of a Kingsnake:
Seeing the Kingsnake recently was the perfect example of an experience that Hubby & I have often: we look out our windows to see what’s happening nature-wise in our yard, and everything seems normal in various directions we look until BAM! 🤩 We look in a different direction and see something completely unexpected and wonderful!
I saw the Kingsnake because I decided (once again) to look out our living room window just to see what was going on outside. I looked up at the sky and noticed some gray mammatus clouds……enjoyed those for a moment……then lowered my gaze to look at the mountains……then looked at our neighbors’ yard……then our yard…..and then looked at the area of our yard directly under the window……and BAM! 🤩 My eyes popped out of my head because there was a Kingsnake moving through that area! 😍 Totally unexpected!
Coincidentally(?), after I finalized this post yesterday, I walked outside to check the mail and saw our Kingsnake friend again! That was the first time I’d seen it since the date I recorded it in my Perpetual Journal, 3 1/2 weeks ago. Yesterday I watched the whole 3-foot-plus length of the Kingsnake disappear down a hole in our yard. Cool!
Even More Yard Excitement!
The next week I was looking at the glass on the same living room window because about a week earlier an insect had laid a chain of eggs on (the outside of!) the window and the eggs had just hatched. So after I inspected the baby insects with a magnifying glass, I looked out the window at our yard and then lowered my gaze to the area directly under the window……and my eyes popped out of my head once again because this time I saw a Bobcat resting in the shade of our house right under the window! 😍
All these yard observations exemplify the point that the more you look, the more you see. And Birder Hubby adds: the more you listen, the more you hear.
🎂 Happy Birthday to One of My Heroes
Today, May 8, 2025, is the 99th birthday of one of my heroes: Sir David Attenborough!
For the past 70 years Sir David has worked as a broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and writer, reaching out to people worldwide to raise awareness of the wonders of nature, biodiversity loss, and climate change. His latest film, Ocean, will premiere in June 2025—check out the official trailer for Ocean.
I remain in awe of Sir David. He is SUCH an inspiration! 🥲 I hope when I’m 99 I’ll still be able to create art celebrating the beauty and awe of nature…and I hope I’ll still be able to find lots of beauty and awe in nature to celebrate!
So, Happy Birthday to Sir David Attenborough—99 years young today!
I’ll wrap this up with a butterfly-themed quote:
“The caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity.”
- George Carlin
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I love the description of the happenstances of looking and seeing nature right alongside your home among them. Also, the compare shots of the queen and monarch butterflies making it easier to distinguish which is which. Thanks again for another window into your world.