Monarchs Sighted in Ohio!

Welcome to Flutter of Monarchs blog.  It appears that the first monarchs arrived at the end of June as expected.  I was on vacation and returned to find only one caterpillar had survived.  I saw signs of caterpillars--tiny holes in the leaves of milkweed.  But the ants, wasps, yellow jackets, spiders and armored beetles had eaten them.  I was thrilled to find one caterpillar, hidden on a lower leaf. He was in the fourth instar and nearly 2 inches long.  I cut the leaf and put him in a butterfly cage where he has continued to grow.

July 10   The caterpillar has eaten through three large leaves and is now "resting" at the top of his cage.  I expect him to form his pupa soon!

 a male

July 11  As expected, the caterpillar formed his "J" and soon formed his beautiful crystalis.  Monarch crystalises are lovely with tiny gold spots that form on the pupa.  It's difficult to see through the netting.

July 23   Hot and humid!  90s and sunny and a male monarch emerges in the morning.

Because of the heat, he is very active and ready to fly away!  We released him at the butterfly camp and he immediate flew to a Queen Anne's lace flower where he feasted for several minutes.