Monarch on Milkweed
I got this picture of a Monarch landing on a milkweed (probably Common Milkweed). Although this plant looked pretty young, most milkweeds had blossomed earlier in the summer [1], and I don't see flowers on it. My suspicion is that this is a female looking for a good spot to lay an egg, which will hatch into a milkweed-eating caterpillar. I'm told that under favorable conditions a Monarch can go from egg to adult butterfly in a little over 25 days: 3-8 days to hatch 3-5 days for each instar X 5 instars = 15-25 days as a caterpillar 8-15 days in chrysalis 26-48 days to become a butterfly Any egg laid on this day should be a functional adult by either mid-September or very early October. Both these dates most likely mean it would be in the super generation that migrates down to winter in Mexico [2]. August 15, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 152591256, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] You can see flowering milkweed any time of the summer. If a plant is cut before it...