Date: 06/08/2016

Number: 1

I saw a large orange butterfly today and waited for it expecting something new that I've never seen.then when it finally came close and landed on a burning bush trimmed like an African Savannah tree with a high flat canopy and open lower branches, it looked familiar, like all the Monarch's I've seen growing up in IN and KY. Then I had an intellectual excitement in that I know the population that uses Utah as a travel way is a different population than what lives in the Midwest. Then I realized I've never seen a Monarch in Utah that was naturally passing through.
It could have been a Viceroy, I don't know the difference except a Viceroy would be smaller, to the best of my knowledge.
I quietly left the backyard to get a camera with a zoom lens and gyroscopic motion stabilizer, but I didn't see it again after that
Of note, Asclepius tuberosa bloomed in my front yard today. I might get lucky and have an infestation of caterpillars this summer! Also of note: I've planted my yard mostly with native forbes, grasses, and shrubs and notice that I see butterflies in the yard almost everytime I go outside.

Salt Lake City, UT

Latitude: 40.8 Longitude: -111.9

Observed by: Travis
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