I love to search for Monarch butterflies, but this year I have spotted only a few of them. I am more likely to spot the similar looking Viceroy butterfly (Limenitis archippus), like this one that I photographed last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It paused for a moment as it perched high in the vegetation at the edge of the water of the bay and I captured the moment as the butterfly looked out on the watery expanse.
What was the butterfly thinking? I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be able to fly freely like a butterfly. Perhaps the butterfly was imaging what it would be like to swim like a fish.
We always are a little restless, wanting to be different from what we are. Maybe we should spend more time celebrating who we are in the present moment, a unique combination of strengths and weaknesses. As one of my brothers likes to say, “Be yourself—everyone else is already taken.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I photographed my first Viceroy a few weeks ago. We really thought it was a Monarch.
They definitely look a lot alike, but when you look closely at a Viceroy, you can see the little black line across the hindwings that helps to distinguish a Viceroy from a Monarch.