Date: 09/24/2009

Number: 1

In the late afternoon [around 5:30 pm] for the last several days a male monarch has been flying a "circuit" around the neighborhood, stopping to bask in the sun in my front yard occasionally. This is a lazy flap and glide, dipping to investigate flowers, checking out all the yards within a few buildings' radius of my yard, always coming back to the milkweed patch. The best way I can describe this behavior is "cruisin' for chicks," since this is what the males have been doing in my yard most of August. This seems to be the last male left, no females are left, no monarchs are laying eggs anymore, the last eggs have hatched. It's kind of sad in a way, he's a summer male, a little faded, won't migrate. He's enjoying his last carefree days before frost, flying around and around, nectaring now and then. I've been waiting for the migrating wild monarchs to net and tag, but all I've seen is this male. There are still small caterpillars in the yard. So there is some overlap between the migrants and the reproductives here at this time.

Newport News, VA

Latitude: 37.1 Longitude: -76.5

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