The Barons of Butterflies, the Lords of Lepidoptery, the Emperors of Insects, the Dictators of Danaus Plexippus, the...ahhh...ahhh...Monarch butterfly, a gently floating winged thing of bountiful beauty.Are you still reading? Hard to believe. This is the time of year that the Monarchs are really starting to congregate in our butterfly garden. An appropriate place, is it not? We signed up with Monarch Watch last summer, a great program for helping with gardening for butterflies and getting information on tagging them also. We still haven't gotten around to that yet...But we do have a lovely garden, full of Milkweed and other blooming flowers for the butterflies as well as the bees and other insects and of course the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are VERY happy with the garden.
If you look closely at the top photo, you'll notice a surprise in there. After I took the photo and looked at it on the computer, I noticed a Monarch Caterpillar in the background! Happy accidents are great!
Monarchs are the only butterflies that make such a long migration, up to 3000 miles! That's longer than my drive to work! Their migration is only one way, and they fly to the same roosting spots every year. Their children are the ones that work their way back north the following year.
Start watching now as their migration starts in late August.
This is from a past summer. The vast number of Monarchs on this tree was amazing to behold. The color and the movement was astounding, I wish I had a video for you. In the mean time, just wiggle your monitor back and forth...
Doesn't that nectar look delightful and delicious?
Oops, I shouldn't be a voyeur, but you need to document everything in nature! These Monarchs are making more Monarchs.
One last photo of the Butterfly Tree! This is common for them to roost in large groups. As the sun warms them in the morning, they will be back on their merry Monarch way!Mother Doodles (aka Laurie's mom) is going to the hospital for surgery on Thursday morning. Please think good thoughts for her. Thanks!
Really nice monarch post; brought a smile as always. :o) See? It looks like tree swallows aren't the only flyer to grow on trees. Thinking positive thoughts for your wife. Let us know how she's doing.
ReplyDeleteVery nice post on the Monarchs! Many years ago, my wife and I spent the fall tagging Monarchs with the Monarch Watch program and had a great time and learned so much about the butterflies! It also created a great memory for us.
ReplyDeleteThose butterflies are just beautiful, so many all together. I spend some time yesterday trying to get a photo of a butterfly, there was only one to be seen, just one.
ReplyDeleteHi Dave,
ReplyDeleteWow the last shot is impressive, so many of them! Incredible!
Was there a bit of photo shop in the first picture if not its very rare to see The common house and Spanish sparrow together so well done iether way,
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