Why mating butterflies instead of simply butterfly photography like the picture at the bottom..?
<Vivid color close-up photo of a mating pair of monarch butterflies on the ground, like kissing or wrestling.>

The challenge, for one thing. And the fun of it. Many amateurs, let alone pros, with today’s fairly good equipment get excellent pictures of all kinds of butterflies from all kinds of places. One of the ambitions
of a serious shooter has to be to stand out. Be it through technique or subject matter. Or both...
Then we get the aesthetic as well as bioscientific advantage of seeing 2 members of the same species, sometimes even more, when there is competition, as HERE, close up into 1 frame. More color, variety
& detail. In most cases there is only one spot for one individual on a given flower. Competition for nectar doesn’t change the fact that feeding is pretty much a singular event. Of course, there are photo ops
with plenty of the colorful insects busy on bushes with a multitude of nectarous provisions.
Plus, there are the well documented wintering trees for monarchs in Mexico...
During Sept. 2007 I managed to take a series of photographs at the Bronx Botanical Garden where
flowers and plants extended invitations to all kinds of insects, amongst them a few species of butterflies, mainly the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). See them at a click.

<Photo of a paperkite butterfly on a red-white orchid flower>
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