royalty returns

sick of the backyard wildlife stuff yet? too bad! the monarchs are back.

this is the first monarch butterfly we've seen this year. it's a little early for them to start migrating (we saw a bunch heading south along the lake michigan shoreline in early/mid september last year), so i hope this is a resident and not a traveler.

monarchs lay their eggs exclusively on (and their caterpillars only eat and thrive on) milkweed, which can be found in green areas along roads and in open meadows. monarchs and the corresponding milkweed must be regionally compatible; i.e., if a monarch lays eggs in a variety of milkweed that is not native to that monarch's home range (say, a west-coast milkweed planted in the midwest), the eggs/caterpillars will not survive. there are a bunch of websites that will help you match milkweed varieties to your region, so if you want to plant some milkweed (and you should), spend a few minutes on the google to find the right milkweed for your area.

unfortunately, liberal applications of herbicides for agricultural purposes have greatly reduced milkweed in rural areas, leading to a precipitous drop in the monarch population -- so much so that conservation groups are now warning of the possibility of localized or even widespread extinction of the species east of the rocky mountains in the next 20 years. western monarchs are doing better, but not much. yikes.

so finding monarchs in the garden is a good thing. i think this is a female, but it's hard to say for sure -- the male has a pair of subtle yet distinguishing black spots on the lower dorsal wings, and that area isn't clear in these pics. i also didn't get a pic of Henry getting up close and personal with this monarch, so close that his bangs were brushing the butterfly's wings as it fed. but really, would you care about a looming H-bomb if you had a fresh red zinnia to feast upon? no, you wouldn't.

here, the monarch posed with a pair of silver-spotted skippers checking out an adjacent flower.

we also saw this newcomer (at least, this is the first time we've photographed it). it's some kind of skipper, but i'm kinda butterflied out, so the full ID will have to wait for another day.