Date: 03/12/2019

Number: 4

I saw 4 monarchs today ~ wonderful!

The first one I saw at 2:30pm as I was driving about a mile from home. I stopped on the country road to watch: the monarch was faded, but was flying fine near the ditch and woodlands.

The second monarch I saw right in front of our house as I arrived home at about 3pm. It flew to the northeast across fields. The temperature was 70 degrees F, with overcast skies, and 91% humidity.

The third monarch I saw flew right past me as I mowed our front yard around 4pm. No nectaring, just heading northeast across fields.

The fourth monarch I saw was nectaring on false garlic flowers (Nothoscordum bivalve) in our lower pastures around 6pm. It was 68 degrees F, windy, overcast, with humidity of 92%. He flew from flower to flower over the span of a couple of acres with woodlands surrounding, somehow using the cool, brisk wind to sail around quite adroitly. Thankfully, the false garlic flowers are abundant, as they are a monarch nectar staple. The wild blackberry flowers are blooming as well, but he ignored them.

I still haven't seen any sprouting of our native milkweed (Asclepias viridis). We did have three days of below freezing temperatures last week ~ but hopefully the milkweed will be up soon.

This is a photo of the male monarch as he nectared in the early evening.

Montgomery, TX

Latitude: 30.4 Longitude: -95.8

Observed by: Kathy
Contact Observer

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