Date: 05/03/2016

Number: 2

This was a very interesting monarch day. Our first male monarch butterfly was born, having been brought in as a larvae on April 16. We had had 4 female butterflies emerge in the last two days from that same group. I let him go outside around 1:30pm. It was sunny, around 73 degrees F, with humidity around 45%, and very windy. He stayed on a tree branch for awhile, getting used to the sparkling sun and the gusting wind. I watched him for some time, then went inside. Then I spotted a flying monarch out our back window, so went out to see it. The newly born monarch had now flown off somewhere, but I went on the chase of the flying one. She flew fast, then started to hover over the milkweeds by our driveway and began laying eggs. She had faded wings and also a large missing section of her lower left wing. But that did not slow her down! She was quick as she flew and fluttered and laid eggs ~~ it seemed she knew that time was short. This is a photo of her laying an egg on a milkweed ~~ it is a bit sun-bleached, but shows her damaged wing. Just a bit later I saw a very bright monarch flying over our front yard and nectaring on milkweed flowers. On getting closer I could see that she was a female with velvety bright wings, a new generation monarch (maybe one I had released the day before or maybe from somewhere else). To see, on the same day, a long-journeyed monarch valiantly completing her quest to lay her eggs and a new generation monarch just beginning her journey was simply wonderful!

Montgomery, TX

Latitude: 30.4 Longitude: -95.8

Observed by: Kathy
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