Date: 02/20/2011

Number: 1

As for monarchs, through January and most of February, not a single adult monarch was seen, but a little over a week ago, a female showed up on February 20 and stayed about five day laying eggs every morning, then disappearing.

Yesterday (3/3) a lone male showed up and is still here flying around the milkweed no doubt hoping for company. The female was in good shape, but the male looks to be fairly weathered. These are the first monarch adults of the year observed.

We've had a few larva mature and pupate recently, two today and yesterday, but thus far wild survival of larva since January is about seven though the adult was not observed. With the cooler temperatures of weeks past, I suspect the eggs were laid sometime in January. The wasps have been very active now with our warmer weather, high to reach (sorry northerners) 80 today, and are actively hunting larva on all the plants.

Forwarded by Don Davis

Saint Petersburg, FL

Latitude: 27.8 Longitude: -82.6

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