Finally, a True Monarch

It was the flash of orange

in slow motion 

that took me down to the garden

again today

to try to catch a Monarch.

The two were hard to catch with my camera.

It was high noon--bad light.

It was really windy--bad exposure time.

And they were not coming

close to me--bad focus.

I was trying to get a good shot of the dot pattern.

But this one definitely has the right pattern.

The line pattern goes to the lower wing edges

(so it's not a Viceroy).

It's not a Queen because it has line patterns

to the edge on the upper wing

(unlike the Queen).

And it's not a Painted Lady

like the last one I mis-identified.

I think I finally saw Monarch butterflies

in my garden for the first time in 5 years!