Date: 07/28/2022

Number: 1

a monarch female fluttered about the back garden for 45 minutes. she sometimes nectared on bergamot, but mostly she visited single common milkweed plants. she checked individual leaves, and sometimes conducted an apparent selective behavior as she seemed to 'nectar' at the bit of sticky, dark moisture collected in the clustered whorl at the base of the smaller topmost leaves of a plant. then she either fluttered about and laid one or more eggs on a leaf of that plant or she rejected that plant as suitable for eggs. we had not previously observed this apparent selective behavior. we watched this female monarch lay perhaps as many as 15 eggs on 6 different plants. we will await larval hatching?

Waterville, ME

Latitude: 44.6 Longitude: -69.7

Observed by: mega
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