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Last week's final blast of winter stopped the monarchs in their tracks. "Temperatures dropped from the 70's and 80's down to the 50's and 40's. Some people were sunbathing one day and shoveling snow the next!" noted ornithologist David Aborn. Hummingbirds, whooping cranes, songbirds, monarchs and other spring migrants waited out the weather. Look how little the migration map changed in the Central Plains, where most of the monarch population is poised to move northward! The migration did inch forward on the map, finally advancing past 37N and moving into these 5 new states thanks to the single butterflies that were reported there: Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, Kansas and Arizona. (Do you think the Arizona monarch came from Mexico or the Pacific Coast? Either is possible! >>)

• Predict where the monarchs will go next! Make your predictions and record the results on this Prediction Chart.

The big news this week is that new butterflies of the next generation are now being born in Texas! These young butterflies will join the migration and continue the journey north in place of their parents. The first was reported on Sunday, April 13th by Carol Cullar in Eagle Pass.

"That first fresh monarch of the season is always a surprise with the intensity of colors and contrasts, after seeing worn and faded critters for the winter," she remarked.

As the calendar below shows, the Texas monarch completed the life cycle in only 25 days. Across Texas, the first eggs were being laid at the same time as Carol's, so watch for a surge in monarch numbers in the days ahead.

Also, Mike Quinn of Texas Parks and Wildlife is receiving reports of unusually high numbers of larva in the Austin area. He sent this astonishing picture of seven full-grown larvae on a single milkweed plant! >>