Pushing the Limits
Arriving just as the milkweed emerged and — from the looks of her — all the way from Mexico, this female must win the prize for the longest-lived, farthest-traveled monarch.

"I was on a three-way conference call at home when I glanced out of the window and saw ... fluttering orange! It was a very worn female monarch flitting among the 2-inch high milkweed shoots. The shoots came up this weekend and two days later there is a monarch, worn from the journey, laying eggs. The conference call was completed outside as I waited with the camera for a shot, phone hitched to one ear. Unbelievable that this monarch has arrived so early, in such a worn-out state after the poor overwintering reports. Happiness."

Julia Mast    Goshen, Indiana     May 12, 2014