Date: 05/26/2014

Number: 1

This is my third year of looking for Monarch eggs on the milkweed along the farm side roads during my morning runs. This morning's excursion resulted in the discovery of 23 eggs, one yellow aphid and one lady bug from maybe 50-100 plants examined. Most were single eggs per plant, but a few had two. Most were on pristine leaves, but one was on a leaf damaged by hail about a week ago. The milkweed is scattered in the grader ditch grassy area between the road and the farmer's fields (mostly 10-15 ft wide). The milkweed is found along a length of about 3 miles north/south section road and a mile east/west. The density of milkweed appears to be related to the timing and frequency of roadside mowing, which appears to be a somewhat random event among the farmers. Herbicide spraying behavior is likely to another factor . I gathered 12 of the eggs from areas I judged may be subject to mowing soon.

This is close to the same number of eggs I found the whole season of the drought year 2012 when I raised and released 17 Monarchs. 2013 here started well, but the late season was poor due to no rain after the end of June.

Courtesy of Monarch Watch

Mahomet, IL

Latitude: 40.2 Longitude: -88.4

Observed by: Paul
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