Date: 04/15/2007

Number: 1

We're still finding eggs here along the Rio Grande! Kay and I checked the Lower Pasture, which is MLMP Site #1, last evening and found the most milkweed we've ever seen for this part of Texas. It's still succulent and growing. Some plants almost 14" in height and most with multiple ramettes. All were in bloom, as well. The leaves this year are more obovate than ovate and linear as in past years (same species, though)--A.
oenotheroides. There are 100s of plants where in the past there were perhaps 24-30.

AND we are still finding eggs and a few tiny first instar caterpillars. I saw 5 amazingly faded adults in a 48 mile drive on Tuesday. This seems late for this region. In past years we would be lucky to spot a single monarch and much of the time across this particular pasture we could track a single path through the milkweed that indicated the single deposition of one female moving in a NE direction.

The adults were so faded that they appeared almost a uniform golden brown,rather than their usual distinctive colors. Only translucence, flight, and size helped pin down the ID.

Courtesy of Monarch Watch

Eagle Pass, TX

Latitude: 28.6 Longitude: -100.3

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