Date: 10/14/2014

Number: 5

I had 5 monarchs feeding heavily this morning on my "verbena on a stick" (verbena bonariensis) and miniature seedless buddleja, Blue Chip (aka butterfly bush). Four females (yay!) and one male--the male headed south but had to fly low to the ground (about 1-2ft up) due to gusty winds coming from the southeast blowing toward the northwest. The females stayed on the buddleja as long as I watched but were not present this evening at 6 pm when I checked. This makes 25 monarchs for this year compared to 10 for last year...not a lot, but more than double last year's count. I hope these butterflies make it to Mexico since they are so late migrating.

Note: PLEASE if you want a butterfly bush plant seedless or sterile butterfly bushes because buddleja are an invasive species...native plants are a much better choice for your gardens...see your state native plant society.

Weather--low of 64 F, high of 82 F (it was 76 when I stopped my observation), winds steady from SSE at 7 mph gusting to 22 mph during observation and building, partly cloudy clearing to mostly sunny Gusty winds and heavy rain forecast for tomorrow.

king george, VA

Latitude: 38.3 Longitude: -77.1

Observed by: jessica
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