A friend and I were finishing up an early bicycle ride before the heat set in when we noticed a California Sister butterfly. We had just finished our climbing for the day. Our water bottles were empty so we stopped at a water spigot on our way down Stunt Road to refill them. The area around the water spigot was damp.… Continue reading California Sister
Danaus plexippus Selects a Leaf, Powers Up the Buzz Saw
Garden monster video taken with my camera phone. Gorgeous gorging garden monster.
Danaus plexippus Larva: Eating Machine
I found this caterpillar in our garden on Friday July 8. On Sunday I moved it to another Narrow Leaf milkweed plant that is larger than the one on which it hatched, because the original plant was too small and running out of leaves to eat. The Monarch female typically lays only one egg per plant and milkweed… Continue reading Danaus plexippus Larva: Eating Machine
Going Native: First Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
I saw a Monarch butterfly for the first time in my garden after planting Narrow Leaf Milkweed along with native sage plants (back in March). Today I saw a Monarch caterpillar munching on one of the milkweed plants. I was not expecting or even hoping to see either this first season for the plants.