Date: 03/24/2019

Number: 25

Today was another very active monarch day with more egg-laying and thankfully more milkweed emerging too!

Around 12:30pm it was 74 degrees F, cloudy with some sun, 72% humidity, with winds 8mph from the south. It stayed similar to this throughout the day. The female monarchs continue to seek for milkweed to lay eggs, while the males continue to fly about looking for females and patrolling their favorite nectar spots of yellow thistles.

It is just wonderful to know that each time you go outside you will be seeing monarchs and maybe one will buzz right past you!

The main nectar plants here continue to be false garlic flowers, wild blackberry blossoms, and yellow thistles. The thistles are really starting to be up now, providing abundant nectar for multiple monarchs as well as other insects.

At times in the lower pastures I would see 4 or more female monarchs all within the same near space looking for milkweed. They seemed pretty companionable, but also liked to have their own niche area to explore.

Seeing more and more milkweed, with most plants dotted with monarch eggs ~ the nursery is really getting going!

This is a photo of one of the male monarchs nectaring on a yellow thistle (Cirsium horridulum). The name is apt with its prickly leaves, but it is also a mighty nectar fountain ~ a very important wildflower resource for monarchs.

Montgomery, TX

Latitude: 30.4 Longitude: -95.8

Observed by: Kathy
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