Date: 03/20/2019

Number: 14

Today I saw quite a few monarchs with a lot of female egg-laying activity (not sure of the exact individual count). Thankfully, there is a growing number of emerging milkweed sprouts, but it still takes the keenness of a female monarch to find it!

At 10:30am I saw a monarch nectaring on false garlic flowers in our back yard. I went outside and followed at a distance as he/she traveled down our pondering path and then rested on the ground sunbathing. It was very quiet and still, sunny, with morning humidity of 57%, and a cool temp of 63 degrees F.

I went out again from 11:30am to 12:15pm. Right away I saw 3 monarchs flying in our front and back yards ~ with one of them briefly nectaring on our blooming pear tree. As I walked along the path next to the woods, I found 2 nectaring on wild blackberry blossoms. I followed one of those as she went about looking for milkweed. A bit later I walked to the upper pasture and saw another 2 female monarchs looking for milkweed. They briefly came near each other and had a mild air fight (not serious) and then each went back to seeking milkweed. They were in the right milkweed spots, but the milkweed is only starting to emerge ... it seemed like they could sense it underground.

I followed one of those two females as she meandered her way toward the bottom pastures, steadily fluttering low checking the plants. I followed, not really expecting her to find anything, but wait... suddenly she acted excited about something that I couldn’t see ... two very small adjoining milkweed sprouts. She found them! She spent some time laying eggs on them and then continued to look for more milkweed in the area. She had laid 6 eggs on each small sprout and 2 on a grass stem that was touching them. I continue to follow her down to the lower pasture where she took a brief nectar break on some false garlic flowers, then continued her egg-laying mission. At that time another female monarch began her own zig-zag pattern search in the lower pasture near her. I left them as they companionably and patiently looked for the newly emerging milkweed.

At 1:30 I briefly went out and saw a female monarch in our front yard looking for milkweed and then traveling into our neighbor's field continuing her low fluttering search. It was now around 70 degrees F, mostly sunny.

At 4pm I went down to the bottom pasture area and found two female monarchs looking for milkweed, finding milkweed sprouts, laying eggs, and nectaring on false garlic flowers. I followed one as she laid eggs on six different milkweed sprouts. It was now about 73 degrees F, sunny with clouds, 37% humidity, and wind 7mph from the northeast. The monarchs took time to sip from the false garlic flowers now and then, probably the dry air making this more necessary.

As I went back up to the house I saw two monarchs air scuffling above the front yard, seeming to be a male chasing a female. She zoomed through the canopy of a tree (just leafing out) and came out the other side, flying high towards our woods ... the male was left sailing around in the sky having lost her.

Going about at sunset around 6:30pm I saw a beautiful monarch nectaring on false garlic flowers in the bottomland near a treeline. Lovely sight on this spring equinox!

This is a photo of one of the diligent monarchs laying an egg on a vertical milkweed sprout, which probably just emerged in the last day or two.

Montgomery, TX

Latitude: 30.4 Longitude: -95.8

Observed by: Kathy
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