Monarch on butterfly bush

Late September puts this monarch right in the middle of fall migration, refueling on butterfly bush nectar before continuing the journey south. A monarch passing through a Virginia garden this time of year could plausibly still be headed all the way to central Mexico.

Why it matters

The monarchs migrating in fall are typically two or more generations removed from the ones that left Mexico the previous spring, yet they navigate to the same overwintering forests their great-grandparents used — a migration passed down without any individual butterfly making the round trip itself.

Getting the shot

The saturated magenta of the butterfly bush gave a strong color contrast against the monarch’s orange and black, needing almost no adjustment to make the wings pop. Shot in profile to keep the full wing pattern legible rather than foreshortened.