Date: 08/23/2019

Number: 15

Enjoying Tithonia, zinnias, milkweed, cosmos and coneflowers.

I have 3 acres and I raise Monarchs, too, so I have hundreds of milkweed plants (common, swamp, showy and tropical), plus hundreds of nectar plants like zinnias, tithonia, orange cosmos, garden cosmos, lantana, sunflowers, salvia, lobelia, abelia, black-eyed susan, coneflowers and more). I am literally out in my gardens all day and I estimated 15 different Monarchs that I saw at one time. They literally fly all around me, chasing each other and fueling up on my plants. I also live near a nature preserve in Whitemarsh Township that has thousands of common milkweed plants. It’s about a mile from my house.

I find that I see the most around 9 am to 11 am, but really I am seeing them all day. Plus today I probably found about 20 eggs and about 20 caterpillars in various instars. I keep those “outside cats” separate because often the caterpillars that I find outside are infected with Tachnid fly larvae. Nasty. The newborns and the eggs I find are protected in a garden shed. I also keep the chrysalis in an enclosure in the shed. I have started tagging for migration, as well, as most of my Monarchs are huge. However, other than a small female I released today, I have only released a few tagged Monarchs in the past week and I did not see them in my observation the other day.

Flourtown, PA

Latitude: 40.1 Longitude: -75.2

Observed by: Dina
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