Date: 04/13/2018

Number: 6

This is a photo of the bright-winged monarch as he nectars from milkweed flowers (Asclepias viridis).

Today thunderstorms were forecast and throughout the day the atmosphere had a turbulence to it ... but also a quiet expectancy. From about 11:15am to 12:15pm I went about the pastures and saw 6 individual monarchs during that time. It was around 78 degrees F, mostly cloudy, with gusty SSE winds and 75% humidity. I followed a lovely female monarch as she looked for the perfect milkweed. She was very careful and diligent, so we went slowly as she checked and rejected quite a few milkweed. The milkweed she chose to lay eggs on were fresh and sturdy with unopened buds. At one point she dropped quickly into deep grass as a male monarch sailed right past us in a searching pattern. She stayed there a few moments, then flew upwards high for a bit and then went back to fluttering low looking for milkweed.

The other monarchs seen were flying, resting and nectaring ~ often on blooming milkweed plants. All of them seemed to have at least slightly faded wings, but there was one exception. I saw a very bright monarch sipping dew/rain drops from a yellow flower. As I got closer he flew for a few yards, but quickly dropped down in the wildflower-covered deep grass. He was sipping dew again and I could see that he looked like he had very fresh wings. He certainly behaved like a newborn. He again fluttered about for a few yards then went down in a blackberry/wildflower patch next to the woods. Checking on him I could see he was sipping water off the plant stems. I was very happy to see him ~ maybe he was a first generation monarch born somewhere near this morning ~ but I was concerned that he was not yet flying too well and a storm could happen at any time.

Well, I didn't need to worry. When I saw him a couple of hours later (and he was unmistakable with his richly colored wings) he seemed to take great delight in zooming across the pastures in record time. I was lucky he also took some long drinks of nectar from blooming milkweed, replenishing himself and giving me a chance to get some photos, though I was very cautious and stayed further back than usual, because I knew that once he took off he would be far away in seconds.

As it turned out the cool front and thunderstorms didn't move through till the nighttime, so during the day we only had some short episodes of light rain mixed with some brief moments of sunlight. At around 3:30pm I was to have another lovely encounter with the "bright one." I had gone out to check on some of the monarch caterpillars in an upper meadow between two woodland areas. When I looked up I saw him flying straight towards me and then circling around me and zipping away again. He seemed to enjoy showing off his aerial skills as he flew fast circuits on the treeline (making extra energetic zips up and down) and back to me again as if to say, "Did you see that?!" ~ what a joyful character and he made me feel joyful too!

I continued to see a few monarchs in the late afternoon, including another wonderful male monarch nectaring from multiple blooming milkweeds. It was good the monarchs were finding nectar, because once the cool front and thunderstorms rolled in, this weekend would have temperatures during the night in the low 40's ~ much like the weekend before.

Montgomery, TX

Latitude: 30.4 Longitude: -95.8

Observed by: Kathy
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