Date: 03/30/2015

Number: 1

First I saw a shadow that was fluttering with two flaps at a time. The shadow was distinctively larger than the other butterflies i have been seeing. When I looked up I saw the orange and black wings. I was surprised at how fresh and clean the wings were. Perhaps it is newly emerged. It was in the tree tops between 15 and 30 feet AGL. Later in the walk it was seen again in the blooms along the roads center median to the south about 1/4 mile. Amazing! No photo available.

There are literally hundreds of Painted Lady’s flying by my area today and the painted lady is much smaller and with a way different flight pattern and markings than the butterfly I saw. My wife who was with me at the time is a second set of eyes on the sighting and she can confirm that she saw a Monarch. We didn’t get the sex.

Milkweed is beginning to emerge in some locations but not others. There is Mexican whorled milkweed starting but the Showy milkweed has not begun growing. As for the milkweed that I am growing from seed. Much of my milkweed is sprouted abut I also have two swamp milkweed plants outside that have about 18 leaves each.

What perplexes me about the sighting is that it was in fact a monarch. I don’t know how early they have arrived in the past but I feel like this is at least a month to early. I saw a sighting on Journey North in Citrus Heights, CA this month and another one near Grass Valley,CA. Grass valley is only about a two day flight for a monarch but I would also point out that due West of me is a company that breeds monarchs and there is always a chance it is one of theirs. Weather in the last 14 days has ben about 15º above average. The wings on this monarch were very very clean. I am not aware of anybody in my area who raises monarchs.

sparks, NV

Latitude: 39.5 Longitude: -119.8

Observed by: bradford
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