Date: 05/30/2017

Number: 1

I found the first Monarch Butterfly caterpillar in the wild on Common Milkweed in my field. Since May18-19, it has been pretty cold here in the 40s and low 50s and rainy or cloudy much of the time. Temperatures haven't reached 60 since then. Today, it was cloudy with temperatures around 50. I found some Monarch eggs May 20 after very warm days here around 80-85. I think this is when a Monarch was here. On May 27, the eggs still hadn't hatched and I took them inside where it was a little warmer and they hatched in a couple days. So they took 10-11 days to develop and hatch I estimate due to the cold weather. The Monarch caterpillar I found today is probably similar to the others in taking 10-11 days to hatch as I went out to check the milkweed today for any eggs I had missed or hoping to maybe find a caterpillar. I found this guy that seemed to had just hatched. So I'm writing this all down for scientific purposes. I'm just trying mainly to say that Monarch eggs take a much longer time to develop and hatch in cold weather.

Harpswell, ME

Latitude: 43.8 Longitude: -70

Observed by:
Contact Observer

The observer's e-mail address will not be disclosed.
Contact will be made through a web-based form.