Date: 07/25/2006

Number: 1

This was a first for me....I watched a monarch lay an egg on a milkweed leaf. My backyard has about 5 dozen milkweed plants. It looks like a monarch maternity ward. For the first time in years, I am seeing monarchs in the backyard, usually one or two at a time, feasting on the flowers in my garden. This year I am seeing eggs on every plant; one leaf had two eggs on it! They are even laying eggs on very low plants. At first I was leaving the larva out on the leaves but when I went back out to look for them, I couldn't find them. I was worried that they were being eaten by spiders or other insects, so I started to bring them inside. I set up fish tanks with plants in water. Once I got to three tanks, I brought up a large plastic container and put them all in there with screen over the top. I add new milkweed plants every day. I've ordered tags from Monarch Watch. Wait until I ask my special ed director to pay for monarch tags! That will be a first for him.

Hebron, CT

Latitude: 41.7 Longitude: -72.4

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