Date: 07/12/2018

Number: 1

On my drive home from work I pass an undeveloped field that gets mowed occasionally and sports some common milkweed.   Since the last mowing, the milkweeds are now getting to be about a foot tall and are visible above the shorter grass.   I’ve observed Monarch butterflies here in past years, and today (July 12th at about 12:35 PM) I spotted my first at this location for 2018.

The Monarch spent most of the five minutes that I observed flying back and forth around the northeast corner of the field, stopping only a couple of times to nectar on some clover.   I was not close enough to determine gender (my guess would be male based on its behavior), but I did manage to get a quick (albeit grainy) photo from a distance, which I’ve included here.

At the time of this observation it was mostly sunny with a few thin high clouds and conditions were approximately:

• Temperature 63.5°F
   
• Dewpoint 51.1°F
   
• Humidity 63%
   
• Air Pressure 30.15 inches
   
• Wind Speed about 1 mph
   
• Wind Direction from the ENE
   

 

Bellefonte, PA

Latitude: 40.9 Longitude: -77.8

Observed by: R. Timothy
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