This is one of our winter resident Monarchs. Today was a warm day so these butterflies could be found visiting flowers. There were more clusters in the grove when I visited today. So hopefully it will be a good year for them. This one is visiting a Eucalyptus flower. I noticed that it's proboscis has what looks like peanut butter on it. I was wondering about this & hoping Robert might be able to shed some light on this.
That is a great close up shot! The stuff on the mouthparts is probably some plant resins associate with flowers/buds the monarch was feeding on. If the weather warms appreciably it will soften in the butterfly may be able to remove it by grooming. Looks similar to the propolis that bees gather.
I missed this somehow when I looked at the other one a couple of hours ago. Great detail and I like how you've framed the blossom at the bottom of the photo so that just the fringe is visible. Makes a lovely contrast to the butterfly.
