Date: 02/16/2006

Number: 1

AN OVERWINTERING MONARCH AT LATITUDE 36.75 ?

My wife, Joyce, and I live in Virginia Beach, Virginia (Lat 36.75, Long 75.99) and this past year I raised approximately 455 monarchs, of which 235 were tagged and released for Monarch Watch.

One warm day in January (we have had a very mild winter) we saw a monarch necturing on Chrysanthemum pacificum in our yard but could not get close enough to identify specifically as to being male or female.

On Thursday February 16th, another unseasonably warm day, my wife again saw a tagged male monarch nectaring on Winter Daphne next to our garage. She attempted
to catch and photograph him but he flew away and did not return. The next couple of days it grew very cold, recording down to 19 and 20 degrees during the night and early morning.

Today, Thursday, March 2, at approximately 11:00 A.M.my wife again saw the male monarch nectaring on the Winter Daphne. She was able to catch him, record the
tag as GEX 514, and took numerous pictures. I was so excited about the implications that I immediately drove home from work and was able to observe the monarch and had my wife take pictures of the butterfly with me holding today’s local newspaper in the
background for date reference.

The evidence seems to indicate that this male monarch probably over wintered in our pine trees for over five months at latitude 36.75 in Virginia Beach.

IS THIS SPECIAL OR WHAT??? I’ll tell you this; it definitely is special for Joyce, Dave and monarch GEX 514.

Footnote: By the way, a second monarch came by this same afternoon as my wife saw both together displaying typical male monarch aggressive behavior. We are now anxiously waiting the next warm day to see if both venture out again.


On Sunday, September 25th, 2005 at my home (Monarch Waystation #35) I caught, tagged, and released a wild male monarch (probably hatched in my yard) with Monarch Watch tag serial No. GEX 514.

March 6
As we indicated in the footnote of the March 2nd email, there is a second monarch that also appears to have overwintered in our area. This second monarch is also a wild male and was caught, tagged and released in my yard on September 26th, 2005 with Monarch Watch tag #GEX 521, one day later than Monarch #GEX 514.

Both butterflies are in good condition, however, Monarch #521 does have a few nicks out of his right fore wing.

We were totally shocked that a monarch might have actually overwintered in our area, even more so that it was one I caught and tagged in my yard back in September – BUT TWO MONARCHS - now we are really wondering what is going on.

Virginia Beach, VA

Latitude: 36.8 Longitude: -76.1

Observed by:
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