Date: 03/19/2020

Number: 4

This last week they are here almost continually to see the milkweed. About 40-50 per day go through the backyard this week.

We have a few milkweed plants in our backyard which we can see while sitting in the back porch or through the window in my office. We have been sitting out for a few hours each day this week due to the nice weather. Until this week we would occasionally see a butterfly but not consistently.

Just starting this week we have been seeing butterflies continuously through the day. So they are really migrating now. The last butterfly from last night was about 7:30, which is almost dark.

This week it was common to have two at the same time and once we had four. However, usually they fight when there are two or more even though the milkweed will accommodate them all.

I estimate each butterfly averages spending about 10-20 minutes flying around and sitting mainly on the milkweed before moving along. If they were active 10 hours a day, I think we have had at least three butterflies an hour which would be at least 30 butterflies. But there were probably more like 40 or 50. They are hard to actually count because we can't realistically watch them all the time. I can only estimate.

All the butterflies looked very energetic and fresh - lots of energy. Some were a little smaller than others.

Today there are no butterflies - I guess because it is raining.

Houston, TX

Latitude: 30 Longitude: -95.5

Observed by: Ken
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