Date: 05/05/2012

Number: 1

I was in my driveway this afternoon working on my car when a female Monarch showed up. It was about 72F and overcast. This is the earliest I've ever seen a Monarch in northern New Jersey. Don't usually see them here until late June to early July. I don't have any flowers blooming yet as most of the perennials are just poking through the ground, never mind blooming, but the Common and Swamp Milkweed is up to about 10 inches tall, so I figured that she was probably there for one thing. As I worked on the car I kept noticing her fly by as she made circles around the house. Just before dark I decided to finally go through the Milkweed and immediately began finding eggs. She chose the smallest milkweed that just broke through the ground and in some cases she even moved the top leaves to place the eggs on the innermost leaves that were no more than an inch or less in size. She even left 2 eggs on a number of leaves. Total count for today was an amazing 60 eggs. Of the 60, only 3 were on Swamp and the remainder were on Common. These are numbers I don't usually see until mid July. The problem now is that I clipped each leaf and brought them all in the house because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't, and now I have to find enough milkweed to feed 60 hungry cats and who knows if she comes back tomorrow. If anyone in northern NJ is interested and has a supply of milkweed I'd be thrilled to share some of the eggs, because 60 caterpillars are more than I can feed until my Milkweed begins to grow. This is the 1st time since I began rearing Monarchs in 2005 that I'll actually have Monarchs in the classroom in May and June, before school lets out.

Newfoundland, NJ

Latitude: 41.1 Longitude: -74.4

Observed by: Bob
Contact Observer

The observer's e-mail address will not be disclosed.
Contact will be made through a web-based form.