Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Viceroy

This was another shot from our Sunday "Using Your Camera" workshop with my Newbie group. This was one of two Viceroys we saw on this shoot. This one seemed to be posing for us. We were able to get quite close to him without him flitting off, allowing us to get quite a few shots of him.

In Florida, there are two forms of Viceroys, which are in the Brushfoot family. One form mimics the Queen, while the other mimics the Monarch. This one mimics the Monarch. It's not too hard to tell them apart though, because their color is a bit darker than the Monarchs. They are more of a bronzy color and have 2 spots on their forewings, which is lacking in the Monarch. They also glide with their wings horizontal.

The Viceroy's food plants are Willows and can be found in all of Florida except the Keys, in marshy fields and meadows.

Settings used for this image was ISO 400 to allow a faster shutter speed of 1/200 in case he took off and to stop any movement of his wings, F7.1 for better depth of field and sharpness, -2/3 exposure compenstation to keep the highlights from blowing out in the harsh sun, at 250mm with my 55-250mm IS lens.

2 comments:

Mango said...

Fascinating!I agree with Jim; you are a wonderful field guide to the flora and fauna of Florida! Thanks, Loyce!

Unknown said...

Thank you, Margo. It all depends how much time I have when I post. Sometimes I only have time to put in a few words.

I'm happy to know that the little tidbits of information is appreciated.