Date: 03/20/2006

Number: 1

We have had been visited by faded monarchs out in the backyard the last few hours since the dry line came thru. A large female with fade factor of 5 has been the fascinating one. I first saw her about eleven and it is about 2:30 now and she (or a couple of her) is still around. Almost no orange scales, the black is gray, and I see no white spots ... just where they should be.
She has no tatter, wings are in amazingly good shape, and she insists on depositing eggs. I sat down on the ground close enough to where I could have touched her with my finger tips, she is in the range of 53mm to 55mm. She flies off for awhile, comes back and checks what is going on and then gets back to her thing. So far there have been no males around ... as many as three females visiting ... and one Texan Crescent (Phyciodes texana) that sat down close.

March 21
Had to make a trip to downtown about one and staying under the speed limit of 30 mph could come across a monarch every two to three minutes, almost as good as yesterday. Flight was from just above the ground to about ten feet, most three to eight feet, and all on a dedicated flight generally north into a wind just east of north today. Was 86 and clear yesterday, 74 and clear today, will be near 50 in the morning, near normal, a tad chilly after last week.

Courtesy of Monarch Watch

Port Lavaca, TX

Latitude: 28.5 Longitude: -96.7

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