Date: 04/12/2015

Number: 1

Today I continued a rough survey of eggs and larvae on the milkweed in our pastures. It was about 75 degrees F, with mostly overcast skies, and light breezes ~~ very comfortable to check milkweed plants. Except when I did not notice I was partially sitting on a fire ant hill (tall grass hiding it and my focus was on the cute little larva I was trying to photograph). Yikes ~ quite painful!

The end result of the rough count over 2 days this weekend is as follows: 283 milkweed checked, 59 eggs found, and 38 larvae found. Of the 38 larvae, most were 1st instars and 4 were 2nd instars. I encountered plenty of other insects and spiders on the milkweeds as well. This is only a partial checking of the total milkweed with my time and rain put a limit on the count.

I saw 2 faded monarchs sailing about while I made my survey today, not sure whether male or female. It began to rain about 3pm and then we had strong thunderstorms the rest of the afternoon. This is a very wet nursery!

Dobbin, TX

Latitude: 30.4 Longitude: -95.8

Observed by: Kathy
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