Date: 07/31/2015

Number: 3

I found 3 monarch males in my yard about 9am this morning, nectaring together near Bea's yard and then moving to the clone and Joe Pye by the weigela/garage. They were sitting quite close to each other, engaging in a rare spiral but all 3 were nectaring heavily within 10 feet of each other, and 2 of them were repeatedly nectaring together on Joe Pye blooms just inches apart. One male settled in my fennel. As I walked by, it then flew up and swooped down at me, bopping me in the head! It actually made an audible sound as it hit my hair!

This afternoon from 3-4 pm I went out to check and see who was in my yard. A male was in the clone to the right of my porch, circling through the clone and swooping over a female tiger swt as she nectared from buddleia. He did not chase her, but simply passed over her, as though noting her presence. But on one pass he knocked her off the buddleia bloom by dropping down fast onto her. He just kept flying in the direction he was going, ignoring her as she righted herself. Each time he ran into the other monarch male, they would spiral around each other in a very tight circle and give chase--chasing each other well outside the boundaries of my yard. They flew like the females did last night, into Traci's yard and along the street curb. I could not get a feel for a regular flightpath, or who might be patrolling which patch/section of the yard. This made it hard to photograph them. The monarchs seemed equally matched, both instigating tight and fast spirals upon spotting each other and flying directly at one another. After about a half hour, it appeared that one male began concentrating more on the east side of the yard, circling repeatedly over the clone by my porch. As he circled through the patch (flying over the perimeter of the patch), he would swoop over other butterflies or give fast chase to the monarch male that was on the other side of the yard. At one point, this male began to swoop near the tiger female again, directly over her. I feared he was about to bop her--when suddenly out of my linden tree flew a fast-flying male tiger swt, who slammed into the monarch and knocked him a few feet in the air. I did not even know this tiger male was up in the tree! The tiger male quickly moved over the female as the monarch righted itself and flew off. The tiger male moved left and right, hovering quickly over the female, trying to push her down. She slipped away and went over to Traci's yard where the pursuit continued with the male trying to coax her to the ground. She flew up into a maple and he followed. Ten minutes later he was back, I guess unsuccessful. Not sure where she went.

I went in to cook dinner, and 2 1/2 hours later returned to see who was in the garden. I spotted one male, in the clone next to the porch. Very soon, a second showed up and they spiraled around each other. I got video of them with Kasey's cellphone. No females found today. It has been 3 days since I last saw Lady.

Photos https://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=one_set72157654297602433

sylvania, OH

Latitude: 41.7 Longitude: -83.7

Observed by: candy
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