A female monarch butterfly paid a visit to our front butterfly garden again this morning busy laying more eggs on almost every milkweed we have. By the end of the week we should have tons of baby caterpillars munching away.
Have you ever wondered how many eggs a female monarch butterfly can lay? As I was sitting in the garden watching the monarch find all the milkweed, I became very curious. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the monarch butterfly can lay between 100 to 300 eggs in her lifetime, which is amazing to me. When the eggs first hatch, the caterpillar is only one centimeter before reaching the final length of five centimeters, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
We had another monarch hatch this morning in our butterfly house. It sat on our hand all the way up the boardwalk to our beautiful penta, where it remained when we walked away.
This morning I spent an hour in the garden walking around and enjoying the view. I spotted five different species, polydamas swallowtail, monarch, gulf fritillary, dainty sulphur and a tropical checkered skipper. Too bad they all did not want their photograph taken this morning! They are all enjoying the warm weather and blue sky, a perfect day for laying eggs and sipping some nectar.
The gulf fritillary made multiple stops at our blue porterweed, definitely one of this species favorite.
gulf fritillary
One monarch was basking in the sun in the back garden near our tomatoes, while another touched down on a half a dozen milkweed plants laying eggs in the front garden. Good thing my milkweed are becoming bushy right now, as they will be covered in baby caterpillars soon.
The North America’s monarch is truly a special butterfly. I am so glad we live in Southwest Florida where we see the monarch fluttering in, around and out of our garden year round.
According to the U.S. Forest Service these butterfly use such environmental cues as air currents and thermals for their annual migration, as they cannot survive the cold winters. I cannot believe some travel as far as 3,000 miles for their winter destination, an average of 50 to 100 miles a day, which can take up to two months to complete their journey, the U.S. Forest Service stated. The monarch butterfly weighs less than a gram.
There are a few different destinations, according to the U.S. Forest Service, with those monarchs in Eastern North America traveling to the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico, and the Western North America (west of the Rocky Mountains) monarchs travel to California.
Their travel happens only during the day, as they roost at night in such areas as pine, fir and cedar trees, due to its thick canopies that provide the right warm temperature. They will also roost on peninsulas, finding the shortest distance across the water. The U.S. Forest Service said the monarchs gather along the shore waiting for a gentle breeze to help them along.
The US. Forest Service said as the days lengthen and become warmer while traveling north, those migratory butterflies will start breeding and laying eggs for a new generation. The monarchs that headed south are one generation, according to the U.S. Forest Service, but those that head north have successive generations.
Again, the U.S. Forest Service said that the first generation of monarchs are those offspring that spend their winter in Mexico. Each successive generation travel farther north with it taking three to four generations to reach Canada and the northern United States.
We are continuing to do our part in helping the monarch population thrive with No. 152 hatching today in our butterfly house, and a caterpillar finalizing its chrysalis.
The garden was extremely busy this afternoon, as a few female monarch butterflies sought out both young and older milkweed plants around the garden. I caught this one laying eggs, while a caterpillar was close by chowing down.
