Date: 06/17/2024

Number: 4

This morning, I discovered all three of the larva that I previously had sighted. I was elated. Blew my theory out of the water though because as I checked periodically through the day, two of them were busy eating or visible to me. The third instar spent most of the day eating unopened flowers. This afternoon I found this new one making its button in a different section of the Milkweed patch, much closer to the garage. This evening he ”J”ed. Unseasonably hot all day today with temperatures over 30°C with high humidity. Thunderstorms this evening with strong winds. I hope the J is okay.
It is a different and more satisfying experience to watch what the Monarch larvae do in the wild. They don’t consume a single leaf until there’s nothing left of it. They eat the tip of a leaf to maybe a third leaving the rest of the leaf. I witnessed one this morning, travel between two Milkweed plants by walking up blades of grass until they bent and then he climbed up the next one and so on until he got to the stem of another large Milkweed plant. He passed over a small Milkweed, maybe 6 cm high, before choosing the large one.

Lakeshore, ON

Latitude: 42.2 Longitude: -82.9

Observed by: Laura
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