Date: 03/07/2020

Number: 1

On loblolly pine - moving slowly

We were hiking in Assateague Island National Seashore Park and spotted this monarch as it flew into the pine tree where I captured the photo. The monarch was just high enough that I was surprised my photo showed enough detail for an ID although I wasn’t able to determine the sex. I was convinced it was either a viceroy or perhaps a deceased monarch that had been preserved. When I realized it was a live monarch we went to the ranger’s station/nature center and I asked inside if anyone had reported monarchs in the area. They were unaware of any other sightings and I even made the comment that maybe someone released it.

The weather Saturday was sunny but cool and very breezy and along the shore it’s always at least 10 degrees cooler. They’ve had an unusually warm winter as has most of the rest of the country and not an abundance of precipitation. I did not notice any blooming plants nor milkweed. I did see another butterfly Sunday in a different park but it whizzed by so quickly I wasn’t able to ID.

Ocean City, MD

Latitude: 38 Longitude: -75.2

Observed by: Ruth
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