Monarch

Monarch butterflies are back, though they may not be easy to spot/identify.

Though this is my 1st decent (non-blurry) picture of them this season, I've almost certainly been seeing solitary ones fluttering around since mid-May. The main problem right now is that there aren't a lot of flowers in bloom, and many butterflies don't sit still unless there's some nectar for them to slurp up. There is quite a bit of Foxglove Beardtongue in bloom, though this plant seems more popular with bumblebees. Monarchs and many other butterflies (I'm pretty sure I've seen glimpses of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails too) seem to be flying maniacally over the meadows looking for the few nectar sources available to them.

But things are changing. Monarchs somewhat surprisingly will visit the non-native Red Clover, and that's in bloom already. Our milkweeds and dogbanes have just started to bloom, and Monarchs (among many other pollinators) love that stuff. Pretty soon there ought to be enough flowers out there that you'll see them landing, taking good long drinks, and then fluttering over to the next flower.

This underscores an issue with climate change. As it changes migration schedules and growing seasons, some of the synchronous aspects of nature can be disrupted. If Monarchs arrive here before milkweed (for laying eggs) or nectar sources (for adults to consume) are available, they won't exactly thrive. Similar issues relate to migrating birds.

May 5, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 205022439, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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