Thursday, July 16, 2009

monarch butterfly on milkweed flowers

monarch on milkweed 3

This is the first Monarch I have seen on the fields by the gardens this year. The milkweed is in full bloom and, with the warmer and dryer weather, lots of butterflies are out and about.

I was asked about the Monarchs' Spring migration and didn't know, so I looked it up. They arrived in the Boston area (from Mexico) in June, but I just hadn't spotted one until now. They will have several generations here before they migrate back down to Mexico in September.

wildflowers, weeds, invasives and natives
butterflies (Lepidoptera)

6 comments:

Kelly said...

That is a beautiful picture, I can almost feel the warm sunshine just looking at it.

Unknown said...

WOW

Dan said...

I have always wanted to go see the Monarchs congregate on the southern tip of Ontario. They have a page that they update when they arrive but I always seem to miss it. Great photo Kathy.

alice said...

I agree WOW. Picture-book; nature being true to nature.

Tina said...

I think it is really hard to believe that butterflies can fly such a long distance. There’s a species over here, the Painted Lady, that comes from Africa up here to Middle and even Northern Europe. Had so much of them this year, now you can only see one now and then.

Unknown said...

I just moved to Waltham from Wenham and have raised monarchs in the summer on behalf of the local library's children's room. Can you tell me where I can find fields of milkweed in this area (Waltham/Belmont border)? Thanks.