A wonderful letter from an intermediate school teacher drew my attention to the arrival of the Blue Tiger Butterfly from Northern Queensland. She saw it flitting around Ageratum plants at PineSong in Green Bay, Auckland. She took a photo and sent it to me. The date was 19 May. 
No doubt it was a Blue Tiger (Tirumala hamata). Imagine a butterfly the size of a monarch but instead of orange it’s blue. It loves nectar of all the usual sources (Ageratum is out right now; also carrot flowers and parsley, Chrysanthemums, Camellias, etc). It is related to the Monarch butterfly, it's from the same family (Nymphalidae) and sub-Family (Danaeinae). It isn’t usually much of a “traveller”, compared to the amazing migratory distances a Monarch covers in the USA, Canada (all the way to Mexico). So far I have managed to track down 6 different records of this species in May 2020. Would be nice to hear if anybody else has seen this distinctive Blue Monarch. We don’t often see this species in NZ, in fact it’s rare here. 2020 must have seen some good conditions for long-distance flights across the Tasman. Perhaps other Ozzie insects may turn up in NZ. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVE