Date: 10/12/2019

Number: 1

Monarch Waystation #271 reports spotting a monarch nectaring on Orange Profusion Zinnias and Tithonia in my front yard a few time from about 1:10-1:20 pm today. Could not get close enough to determine gender, since any close approach made it leave the flower it was on and fly further away from me. It flew with a flap and glide similar to a summer male "cruising the area for chicks," yet was also skittish like a migrant, would move to another blossom if approached in the 10-15 feet away. I tried to stand by to net it to tag. It circled the yard in a spiral up to ~10 feet high then flew east along the front of the building and south around the building's east corner. I cut through the house to the back to see if it nectared in the yard there, but it did not. Waited a few minutes, then I came back through the house to the front and there it was on the Zinnias again. At least, I THINK it was the same monarch, don't know for sure. I tried to approach it and it did the same "cruise flap and glide" in a circular spiral around the front yard, flew east along the building and turned the corner to head south. I set out a chair to read on the front patio to wait for its return until 1:45 pm, but it never did. Sunny, in the 60s, light winds.

Newport News, VA

Latitude: 37.1 Longitude: -76.5

Observed by: Judy
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