This morning, my wife
and I headed out in search of Monarchs and Milkweeds for the
2023 Blitz.  Our plan was to visit 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.*  However, as I have noted in several previous
reports, while we have lots of healthy milkweeds growing here in
"Happy Valley", in recent weeks this summer we have
seen very few Monarch Butterflies – but no Eggs (other
than

our Blitz Egg
report today

) and no Larva or Frass as evidence of their presence at
all.  Disappointing, but also very concerning.

Our seventh and last stop as part of our “Blitz” search
was at the

style="color: #1111DD">Snetsinger Butterfly Garden

in the

Tom
Tudek Memorial Park

in State College, PA.  The garden’s three acres
display more than 100 species of native plants, including Common
Milkweed, serving as caterpillar hosts and providing nectar for adult
butterflies.

Today, as seen in the photo included above, we
managed to spot two Monarch Butterflies fluttering about the plants
(mostly in the vicinity of Common Milkweed plants) in the garden.
  Unfortunately they never got close enough to tell if they were
males or females.

At about 3:15 PM (EDT) the air temperature was 81
°F, the air pressure was 28.60 inches and slowly dropping, the
dew point was 66°F, the humidity was 61%, with a light 7 mph
breeze blowing from the south under mostly cloudy skies.

    *  We spent at least 20 minutes
observing at each of our seven locations today.  All total, we
spotted at least six Monarch Butterflies over the course of
this "Blitz" day (i.e., between 11:15 AM and 3:30 PM
EDT).  Links to our previous seven milkweed, one egg, and five
butterfly postings are listed below:

           
      -  Tim