Date: 07/01/2017

Number: 4

I observed some weird stuff today with Monarch Butterflies while out near the Common Milkweed patches in my in my field. I will describe each of the 3 events. I would appreciate any feedback experts may have. Thanks.

1. I saw at first what appeared to be a bird flying back and forth here and there but it turned out to be a Monarch Butterfly towing another one around that appeared stuck to it. It seemed that they maybe must have got stuck together while mating. The one towing the other around seemed very healthy and flying well but I couldn't tell if the other one was alive. I kept trying to follow it and sneak up on it but every time it would sense me about 10 ft. away and fly off further away. There was nothing I could do to help but it was weird.

2. What was probably a female Monarch Butterfly was cruising around the Common Milkweed plants in my field. Then all of the sudden it was being chased by a small butterfly only about a quarter of its size. The small butterfly chased the Monarch Butterfly for 20-30 seconds anyway sticking to it only trailing it by a few inches and matching the Monarch turn for turn at high speed. The small butterfly finally stopped chasing after quite some time it seemed. Perhaps the small butterfly was defending its territory. The whole thing was very weird! I had never thought a small butterfly would chase a Monarch Butterfly 4 times its size so vigorously.

3. I was watching what seemed to be a female Monarch Butterfly cruising around the Common Milkweed plant patches in my field. Then all of the sudden, another Monarch Butterfly rises up out of nowhere as the female Monarch glides by and starts chasing the female Monarch with both flying at super fast speed at only a few inches away. The chase continued and both were out of my sight further down in the field within a few seconds. I've never really observed mating before but it seemed like it wouldn't involve a super chase like I described. It could have been another female Monarch chasing the female Monarch also with maybe trying to defend its territory in the milkweed patch. I don't know. Another weird event for what seemed to be a weird day!

Harpswell, ME

Latitude: 43.8 Longitude: -70

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