Date: 10/17/2011

Number: 1

The kids were off from school today due to records day for the teachers, so we headed up to U of Michigan's Matthaei botanical gardens to enjoy the day. It was sunny, 55-60 F, winds west at 20 mph. We made it to the greenhouse, and searched the outside grounds for a section of the garden protected from the wind. Finally, in the perennial garden on the backside of the conservatory, we found a calm, sunny perennial garden of cultivars where weddings are normally held. We found a total of 5 monarchs in this garden along with one red admiral.

The monarchs were feeding furiously from verbena bonariensis (tall verbena or purpletop), a single mum called "Harmony," a purple coneflower, and at times a delphinium. The monarchs were so intently feeding, that I was easily able to slowly sneak up and grab them bare-handed. My 7 year-old daughter Maya, a self-proclaimed "expert bug huntress" observed me and was then also easily able to grab a monarch. I only had my cell phone for pictures, but I took several and then we wished our friends a safe journey Adios.

We explored the woods for a short time, saw one monarch on goldenrod in an opening near the frog pond, but strong winds made me fear a tree branch might fall on us so I decided it was best to leave. Of the monarchs we saw, 4 were in good shape, one slightly worn on the lower edges of the hindwings near the abdomen, and one was very worn--see the photos.

Ann Arbor, MI

Latitude: 42.3 Longitude: -83.8

Observed by:
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