Date: 05/26/2003

Number: 1

Minneapolis Monarch! Spotted our first monarch of the season today, Memorial Day, Monday, May 26th, around 4:30 pm on the campus of Breck School. We were sprucing up our butterfly garden for the summer and in floated a fresh new monarch, bright orange enjoying the moderate southerly breezes (W/SW 10-15) and temps in the high 70's. Mid 80's are predicted today (Tues. 5/27) with stronger south winds so I am assuming we will begin to start seeing a few more of these guys pushing into Minnesota this week. The milkweed is looking great as we have had a perfect spring thusfar. Have been checking milkweed plant daily for eggs but none yet. It won't be long now!

One addendum to my earlier report....it is almost to the day that we started seeing our first monarchs last year.(see jnorth archival records) We found our first eggs one week later (June 2, 2002). Here I thought it had something more profoundly connected to the fact that I was working on our butterfly garden, or that it was Memorial Day and it was related to the lost souls or spirits of those soldiers and others who had died (like the beliefs asscociated to the monarchs arrival in Mexico just in time for Day of the Dead. Will they always come back here around Memorial Day or are they really just cueing on the photoperiod and angle of the sun?!

Minneapolis, MN

Latitude: 45 Longitude: -93.3

Observed by: Dave
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