Date: 07/07/2019

Number: 1

For years, my family always enjoyed taking our boat across the lake to eat at our favorite restaurant. Maya and Daven have missed doing that, so we made the trip.

The food at this restaurant is really good, and you can expect an hour long wait on the weekends just to get seated. So as we waited, I decided to go down to the shore and explore.

I scanned the property, looking for butterflies, but only saw a beautiful tiger swallowtail. I had almost stopped looking when a monarch came out of nowhere, nearly brushing my arm and then flapping around me as she descended the hill to the water. I joined her, following her to see what she would do.

As we reached the water's edge, she flew a few feet off shore. She dropped briefly to the water, bopping like you might see a fly or dragonfly do, then returned to the air a few feet above water. It instantly reminded me of a monarch I saw long ago, as my dad and I were fishing out on the lake. Back then, I didn't know what I was seeing and thought the butterfly was crazy as it repeatedly "bopped" the water. I had no idea what it was doing. But I knew now.

After wetting herself, the monarch landed on the beach, a few feet from the water's edge. I thought, "He's puddling." And then I was shocked to see it was a female! I watched her sip from a handful of plant material that had washed up on the beach. Was she sipping water, minerals or both? Not sure, but it was cool to see this. I watched her raise her abdomen to the sun, and spread her wings to bask in the morning sun as she sipped.

I enjoyed my time with her for a good 10-15 minutes, before my crew called to me to say we had been seated. Time for my breakfast.

Til we meet again, lady monarch.

Alpena, MI

Latitude: 45.2 Longitude: -83.4

Observed by: candy
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