It’s not often the white penta’s have visitors, but this male monarch butterfly was going to town on sipping tons of nectar. It gathered some pollen through his travels too.
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A little breakfast
The gulf fritillary butterfly is always one of the first visitors in the morning. Not just one, but a half a dozen at a time. This one was enjoying a fire bush.
Another was enjoying the nectar of a Mexican sunflower.
A mating pair
This morning the butterfly garden was busy with lots of fluttering wings of many different species. There were two butterflies that caught my attention on top of a giant milkweed. Before I knew it they landed on my Bahama cassia plant located very close by.
It was absolutely fascinating to watch the mating process right in front of my eyes of two monarch butterflies.
I have read that mating monarchs can remain together for 16 hours or longer. It’s not until the very end of their attachment that the sperm is transferred to the female. The fertilization of the egg does not occur until right before the egg is laid on the host plant, milkweed.
During mating, the male will use its claspers located on the end of its abdomen, to attach to the female’s ostium bursa.
Be sure to check out the many videos I was able to capture.
Determination
The last few days I have been watering newly planted milkweed, as the heat is extreme, and the rain has not been falling as often. The best time to do this is about an hour before the sun goes down.
It appears this is the best time to stroll through the garden, as the last few days there have been monarchs feasting on nectar. Tonight’s dinner, the nectar of a Mexican sunflower.
I loved watching this monarch’s determination of extending its proboscis, finding the opening of the flower, and sipping the nectar.
The best things happen when you slow down enough to witness nature at its finest.
A new lifecycle
I have recently planted an abundance of milkweed for the monarch butterflies.
I now have two giant milkweed that stand at least 7 feet tall, four butterfly milkweed plants, two whorled milkweed plants and two balloon milkweed plants. It was important to me to offer a variety, kind of as an experiment to see which one they prefer to lay their eggs.
The monarch caterpillars feed solely on milkweed leaves, which produces glycoside toxins, according to the National Wildlife Federation, which deters other animals from eating the caterpillars. The toxins are stored making them taste bad and remains after they emerge into a butterfly, continuing to protect them.
The last fewdays I have noticed holes in my giant milkweed leaves, signaling that the baby monarch caterpillars have arrived!
Sure enough, I spotted quite a few strolling along on the leaves.
There are four stages in the life cycle of a monarch butterfly: the egg, the larvae (caterpillar) the pupa (chrysalis) and the butterfly.
A little skipper
I see this little checkered skipper all over the yard enjoying the nectar from weeds. I was thrilled to see it in the garden this morning.
One of the best new additions to the garden is the purpletop vervain, an excellent nectar source. This flower has been visited by a slew of different species. I just added two more to the garden, since it is visited by so many.
