Monarch Butterfly. Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms, Wells ME

Laudholm Farms was one of the first places in the area to devote significant amounts of their meadow land to milkweed, and, consequently, it is one of the easiest places to see Monarch butterflies. This year has not been a great year for Monarchs, if you go by the number I have see at Laudholm and elsewhere around my patch, but I did find this large specimen working the Goldenrod in the meadows below and left of the farm buildings. It seems late to me…this image was captured just a few days before the equinox…but perhaps it is a migrant from further north fueling up for the flight south.

Sony HX90V at 720mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 80 @ f6.4. Processed and cropped for scale and composition in Lightroom.