Early this afternoon (8/4/2024) my wife and I headed out looking for Monarch Butterflies to participate in the International Monarch Monitoring Blitz.  As I have noted in earlier postings, despite having numerous Asclepias (i.e., syriaca, incarnata, and tuberosa) in the gardens around our house, thus far this summer we have seen only two Monarch Butterflies (i.e., on 7/19 and 7/29), and no eggs or caterpillars.

Nonetheless, we were hopeful that we might find some Monarch Butterflies at various locations in the Bellefonte and State College area where we know there are Milkweeds and where in the past we have occasionally spotted Monarch Butterflies.  In other words, our plan is similar to what we attempted for last year’s Blitz.  We also plan to confirm if there are Milkweeds in any of these locations, and if so, report them as well in separate Milkweed sightings.

At our second stop, in the field where an underground gas pipeline goes by to the northeast of the First Baptist Church at 539 Jacksonville Road east of Bellefonte, we spotted our first Monarch Butterfly at about 12:50 PM.  Eventually we counted three, one of which we also managed to capture in a photo while nectaring on what I believe is knapweed.

At the time, the air temperature and dew point were both 68°F (yes, it was very humid), the air was calm under fair skies, and the air pressure was 28.57 inches.