Woohoo!
Our first Fall Migration Monarch appeared today. She was a beautiful, but worn, female.
Her colors are a bit faded, and she has some small tears on her bottom left wing, but she appeared strong and was laying eggs.
.jpg "Female Monarch Migrating Fall 2010")
Female Monarch Migrating Fall 2010
We’ve never tagged Monarchs before, but this year we ordered several hundred tags. Our tags begin with NGC 400 and go through NGC 924. The tags come from Monarch Watch.
Once I saw this female flying around, I took some pictures, then went inside to grab my Butterfly net that I have never used before.
One thing I love about Monarchs is that they are so friendly and often will fly right next to you to check out what’s going on.
So I used my net to catch her, quickly applied tag # NGC 400, then placed her back on the Milkweed. She went right back and started laying more eggs.
Hopefully she makes it all the way to Mexico! If you happen to find her before then, make sure you report the tag information.
.jpg "First Tagged Female Monarch 2010")
First Tagged Female Monarch 2010
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by texdr
3 comments
Cesar - Right now, The milkweed plants are looking good, there’s almost no aphids on the plants.September 29, 2010 – 1:04 am
Valerie Evanson - Congrat’s on your first tagging! Have fun raising the eggs!September 29, 2010 – 8:07 am
isaac - Usually, I have monarchs around nearly 10 months out of the year. This year for whatever reason, it wasn’t until about 2 weeks ago that I’d seen the first one since spring. The migration must be hitting my area, too.October 1, 2010 – 9:26 pm