Queen Butterfly, Danaus gilippus, on a milkweed

Photo by Ian Sands. Location: LaBelle Florida. Subject: Queen Butterfly.

This queen butterfly was fluttering around and through the milkweed plants at my moms house. The queen butterfly has vibrant colors and patterns as you can hopefully see from this photo. When photographing butterflies I always try to take the picture using the macro setting. I think that macro captures a little more detail on close up subjects. The scientific name for the queen butterfly is Danaus gilippus. Queen butterflies love milkweed plants. If you have these plants in your yards you will be sure to see these beautiful butterflies.