Date: 03/27/2021

Number: 20

Today was a very active monarch day! I first went around at 11:00am. It was 76 degrees F, cloudy, breezy, and with 87% humidity. It got a tad warmer throughout the day (up to 8O degrees F) and kept going with the cloudiness & high humidity, including gentle misty spritzing.

Right away I saw two female monarchs in our near, upper pasture fluttering low looking for milkweed to lay eggs on. They were both looking in a good area that always produces a lot of milkweed ~ this year a bit slower, but now plenty to choose from. At one point their paths crossed and they gently air-tussled, but quickly both came back down about 25 feet apart and continued egg-laying.

I could see other monarchs flying in our yard & down further in the pasture. My next interesting encounter occurred as I went into the middle pasture. I saw the flash of monarch wings in the grass & went closer to investigate. It was a mating pair. Thankfully, I didn't disturb them, but did get a few photos.

I saw a female looking for milkweed & began following her. She was able to lay eggs on several milkweeds before she was spotted by a male ~ and up they went. The now-familiar spiraling up and diving down fast aerial maneuvers. On one of the dive-downs she hid in the grass. The male not far behind began a persistent search for her ~ he knew she had to be somewhere right about...there! But he didn't find her and flew off & rested a bit about 20 feet away. I stayed still. He decided to sail back over where she was and tried again to spot her (or maybe flush her out). This didn't work & he flew off. A few moments later she flew upwards, sailed a bit, and resumed milkweed seeking.

I saw this same evasion tactic later with another egg-laying female. In her case the grass she dove into, after the aerial chase, was very deep & the male just sailed on not really trying to figure out where she was. She pretty quickly came out of hiding and calmly went back to looking for milkweed.

There were a lot of monarchs flying around, females looking for milkweed, others resting in the grass, and
at times nectaring. The males would fly low back & forth over the prime milkweed areas. They also would fly close in areas with blackberry blossoms or other nectar plants ~ hoping to spot a female.

The weather was lovely and changeable, with a breezy wind, and sometimes there was a mist coming down lightly. The honey bees and bumble bees were nectaring and buzzing, and other butterflies were flying here and there.

At 3:50pm it started to rain lightly and the monarchs mostly disappeared. I saw a few flying briefly or nectaring from thistles when the rain lightened at times. I went around checking on some of the milkweed for eggs and larvae ~ and enjoyed seeing some wonderful 1st instars.

This is a photo of one of the first female monarchs I saw laying eggs this morning. She has a fairly large tear in her left hindwing. Looking closely, one can see two eggs she already laid on the milkweed (on the leaves below her).

Montgomery, TX

Latitude: 30.4 Longitude: -95.8

Observed by: Kathy
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