Monarch and Viceroy: How to ID the look-alikes!

Copyright Journey North 

Monarch butterflies are beautiful and iconic with their red-orange hues and the deep black lines that mark their patterned wings as they gracefully navigate the winds and land to take in the nectar of a desirable flower. But what may look like a Monarch may actually be it's look-alike, the Viceroy. A VERY similar looking species, the Viceroy could easily be mistaken for the well-known cousin with almost identical colors and markings. However, if you look closely you may see a line across the hindwing, that is a Viceroy! The Monarch does not have a line across the hindwing and has a more gentle flapping of the wings than the more erratic flight of the Viceroy. Not quite an identifying factor but a difference all the same, the Viceroy does not fly the thousands of miles for migration as the Monarch does, causing the Monarch's unfortunate decline as they fly over large highways to reach their destination. It is believed that the Viceroy evolved to look like the Monarch to give predators the impression that they are as undesirable to eat as the Monarch. Perhaps this is true, or perhaps the Viceroy saw a beautiful opportunity. I am always very happy to see the Monarch, hoping that their species is doing well despite the challenges they face, continuing to dazzle me with their beauty and grace.

Here the National Wildlife Federation explains the difference as well and even offers a quiz to test your ID skills! Furthermore they compare another look-alike, the Queen butterfly.

The Northern Flicker

Yellow-shafted NF, Tom Johnson, AZ

The Northern Flicker, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful birds in the east and a unique woodpecker! They are also very charismatic, flying from tree to tree yelling out KEYAH (among other cool vocalizations)! It will also throw me for a loop when I see these guys driving their woodpecker beaks into the ground as I look out into the yard thinking, who is that big bird? The last couple of places we have lived it's been lucky that we've had this wonderful bird in our neighborhood. We played a flicker call one day in the back yard at our last house and it must have been a male recording because there was a spectacular male within seconds on the nearest tree limb. He did some fancy dances, displayed every color and marking he possibly could, delighting us the whole show! Soon though he decided that the competitor (a thin, rectangular object) was nothing to be threatened by and flew off. Here in Cherokee Ntl Forest at our new house we have a flicker friend, he silently visits on the small hill beside the house where I will notice him pecking the ground for goodies or sitting on the wooden fence posts piercing the soft wood for insects. I call him our friend because he frequents this spot and almost seems to hang out with me sometimes, giving me the chance to grab my Nikons and check out his beautiful colors and markings. This is definitely a bird to check out, listen to some vocalizations and keep an ear out for them in your neck of the woods! And if you're in the west, you'll have the red-shafted variation, also so beautiful, we saw one in Colorado and he was awesome.

Red-shafted NF, JoanGeeAZ, AZ

Ravens and Turkey Vultures

The first song of the morning was as usual, the small and mighty crow of the banty Rooster below the window, reminding us all that the day is about to break. But in this case, the crow of Fantasy the banty Rooster was only the beginning! American Crows are often a part of the day in the Cherokee Mountains at 2600 feet in our rural shire. The past couple of days we have heard a very, very close kin to the Crow, of the saintly days of yore, The Common Raven! It’s croaking call can be heard echoing through the mountains as it soars through. For a fun twist in events I came across, The Raven, read by Christopher Walken, on Facebook! Definitely had to listen to that. In other bird news, we had another favorite of mine, The Northern Flicker visit us today, so beautiful the bright yellow that flashes from the underside of the wings as they fly by! The feeder was hopping with the usual stars, The Tufted Titmouse, The Northern Cardinal, the banty chicken, etc. The neighbors have cut hay so Turkey Vultures have been soaring the cool, sunny breezes over the fields, hoping, I suppose, to find the smell of that unfortunate small animal. The Turkey Vulture came very close to my dog and I, Treves passed out, sun dazed little body looking convincing giving me that opportunity to check out the birds silver primary and secondaries and tiny, red head, scanning the ground. Amidst the Turkey Vultures were some large, black birds soaring over the field, soaring, circling like the larger scavengers. Was it a murder of Crows mimicking the Vultures or a couple of Ravens looking for an easy meal? Will we know for sure, nevermore!

Fantasy on the bird feeder!

About My Blog Topics!

Hello readers, thank you for taking the time to visit my page! I wanted to introduce my writing topics for this blog which are birding, farming and conservation. Undying love and passion for animals and their welfare has brought me to my occupation, farming, my lifelong practice of birding and an active involvement in wildlife conservation. These are my niches, so to say. However I have a general love and appreciation for Mother Earth. Animals are fun to write about and always makes for a great story. Having farm animals and wild animals on our property, it's the best of both worlds! The mission for my writing is to educate and entertain on these topics. We try our best to be organic on the farm as well as maintain caring animal husbandry. Our property is at 2600 feet in the Cherokee National Forest so we have a wonderful, diverse population of birds year-round. And although I don't work in the conservation field anymore, I will always be active in it. We love to hike with our dogs and be in the wilderness so that may come up too. If anyone would like to network on these topics I would be thrilled! Unless we don't agree, in that case, talk to someone else. :) Thanks for reading!