Date: 12/25/2015

Number: 1

We saw a freshly hatched, wrinkly monarch butterfly mid-day on Christmas. He was still near his chrysalis, clinging to a dried stem of a perennial. We went away for a couple days, and noticed he had not moved from that site while we were gone. He had a hole in his right wing, and it didn't seem to have the best shape on the leading edge, so he could not fly. It was rainy (lots of rain, 3"), and starting to get cold, although Christmas had been 71 deg. So 5 days after he hatched, we brought him inside. We kept him in a mesh enclosure, warm and dry, and fed him (first we gave him sugar water on a paper towel, but then we gave him fruit (mango & pear), after which he would be animated, so we thought that meant he liked it). At least his last week was more comfortable than his first week. He died overnight between Jan 6 & 7, 2016.

Centreville, MD

Latitude: 39.1 Longitude: -76

Observed by: Denise
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