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Labor Day Monarch Cats & Eggs
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emgi-@juno.com
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Sep 05, 2005 20:36 PDT
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I had been reading all of the reports of butterflies this summer with a
great deal of envy. Last summer had been a very active season for
butterflies in the gardens I have planted around my yard, but 2005 so far
has been very dissappointing. Although I have had lots of flowers in
bloom, I have not had many butterflies stopping in to nectar or lay eggs.
My envy turned to excitment on Saturday morning. My wife and I were out
to do some yard work, when she happened to look over the fence and
noticed a caterpillar in the back garden. "Hey, Ed, I think I see a
caterpillar on the Butterfly Weed. Ooh, I think it's a Monarch! Wait a
minute, I think I see two!!" We ran over to the plant and found not one,
not two, but FIVE Monarch Caterpillars! I had seen on a few occasions a
single, very worn Monarch pass through the yard, but never stop and
nectar. Obviously, it had been paying a few visits while we weren't
around. There may have been six caterpillars, because the largest one
seemed to have disappeared in the time it took for me to run to the shed
and pull out my 10 gallon nursery tank. The four largest seemed to be
fairly close in size, with the fifth being 1/3 the size of the larger
ones. The have been happily munching away in relative safety all
weekend.
This morning, Mike Maurer and myself went out to do a little local
butterflying. One of the stops we made was at an old farm field on Route
106 in West Bridgewater, across from the Riverbend Golf Course. Sadly,
since the golf course was built, a For Sale sign has sprung up on this
adjacent 70 acres. The fields had been mowed about a month ago, and the
milkweed was now about a foot tall. As we walked the field we came
across a female Monarch, and after she nectared for a bit, we followed
her around as she began ovipositing. Mike noted she always laid her eggs
on the smallest, most tender milkweed shoots - 2 to 4 inches tall. We
collected 7 eggs between us before we lost track of her. I have placed
four of those in a second tank, and can't wait to see them hatch! This
was a nice way to end a rather lackluster season.
Eddie
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Eddie, Maura, & Jason Giles
East Bridgewater, MA
emgi-@juno.com
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