It hasn’t been a great year for monarch butterflies here yet, if my experience is typical. I’ve seen a few of them sipping from local milkweed and bee balm – usually one or two butterflies at a time; not large numbers. I’ve seen no eggs or caterpillars on the milkweed yet. Yet, the monarchs that I’ve seen seem to be in good shape.
Here you see a male monarch flitting among our pollinator-picked-over bee balm. Only the male monarchs have those matching, dark elliptical spots on their hind wings. The spots are thought to be scent glands that exude pheromones to attract females. (Hope this works better than aftershave lotion on human males.) The male monarchs also tend to have thinner black wing veins than the females.
I’m trying to “shoot” butterflies in flight with a hand-held camera and long lens. It can be painful and frustrating, but I think I’m noticing that many butterflies seem to fly with their bodies flexed horizontally when they undertake a long flight; it may be the best aerodynamic position for their unusual configurations:
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on July 23, 2025.)