Today I saw two Monarch Butterflies that were feeding on the wildflowers and the Family Jewels Milkweed.

Those two black insects at the top of the photo are affectionately called “Love Bugs” and they are a big pain (just because they fly right into you, not that they cause any real damage).  I’m sure the insect predators love them.

Monarch Feeding On Family Jewels Milkweed

When I see these Monarchs from Mexico I have mixed feelings.  On the one hand, I always enjoy seeing them, and happy to know that they have survived for so long.  The sad part is I know these Butterflies are nearing the end of their life after an incredible journey.

First Female Monarch From Mexico 2012

Female Monarch From Mexico Laying Eggs On Family Jewels Milkweed

I had forgotten how our Maple Tree is a source of nectar for Butterflies and Honeybees until I saw this Monarch feeding from one of the new blooms.  I say new blooms, but at the same time the Maple Tree is still shedding leaves for the Winter.  Only in Texas….:-).

Monarch Butterfly Getting Nectar From Maple Tree 2012

About Monarch Butterflies.  We’ve released over 20 Butterflies in the last two days.  We brought many of the Chrysalises indoors during the last cold spell (cold for Houston, not cold for anywhere else in the U.S.) and they have really flourished.  I’ve also been helping out someone I recently met by doing some testing for the OE (ophryocystis elektroscirrha) parasite.

Without further adieu, here’s a few pictures using the new lens and of the first Monarchs of 2012.

Monarch Caterpillar Eating Milkweed In Early Morning Dew

Recently Tested Monarch On Tree

Multiple Monarchs Drying Their Wings After Hatching

First Monarch Of 2012 Drying Wings In The Sun

Below is a video that I recorded today of Leecy gluing some Monarch Chrysalises to a piece of cardboard.  We tend to do this during Winter months when we still have Caterpillars and Chrysalises and want to protect them from inclement weather (rainy, cold).

To give you a brief verbal summary:  We try and keep the Monarch Caterpillars outside as much as possible unless the temperature is expected to be a little chilly or we are going to have excessive rain.  We’ll gently detach the Monarch Chrysalis from the outdoor enclosure, then bring it inside.  From there, we (Leecy) uses a glue gun to glue the tip of the Chrysalis to a piece of cardboard so that it can continue to develop.  We then flip the cardboard upside down and place it over a container.

Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to answer.

By the way, we have about 36 Monarch Butterfly Chrysalises right now (December 23, 2011)

So on to this post.  I’m guessing that most folks don’t think about Butterflies two days before Christmas, but I wanted to share our Monarch Butterfly story.

While we didn’t see many Monarch Butterflies during the migration, we saw several after the expected migration, and we had quite a bit of Milkweed.  The result?

Lots of Monarch Butterfly Chrysalises!

Carrier Full Of Monarch Chrysalises

We’ve only had a couple of really cold days in Houston (we moved the Milkweed to the garage during that time) with the majority of the Winter being quite nice.  Apparently the Monarch Caterpillars like it as well as it’s given them some time to stock up on eating Milkweed.  Since we knew it was supposed to get a little cold and rainy (just 38 degrees or so), we decided to bring the Chrysalises indoors.  The result is what you see above.  Those black dots next to a couple of the Chrysalises are the skin of the Caterpillars.

We don’t just leave them in this little carrier, Leecy glues them to these cardboard things we have.  I’ll try and post a picture or video of that within the next couple of days so you can see how we do that.  Once the Butterfly emerges we release them as long as it’s reasonably sunny and above 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pretty neat huh?

What I’ve also noticed is that these Butterflies are mating, and in the case of other males, chasing each other.

Monarch With With Wings Spread Wide In Early Morning Sun

Clean Monarch Butterfly Feeding On Red Zinnia

We’ve also located several (around 15 at last count) Monarch Caterpillars on the Milkweed.  The two guys are the picture below were so tiny I almost didn’t see them.  It’s been like this for several days; we check the Milkweed for Caterpillars, see none, and assume there are none.  Two days later, we see little Caterpillars like these.

Two Tiny Monarch Caterpillars Feeding Off Same Leaf

There are also several large Caterpillars on the Milkweed.  I brought them inside for one day since it was a little chilly, then took them back outside the next day since the weather has been really nice.

Large Monarch Caterpillar Upside Down In Between Two Milkweed Stems

Take a look at the male Monarch in the picture below.  He has that torn upper wing and had difficulty flying from flower to flower.

Male Monarch With Torn Wing On Pink Zinnia

Then the next day he was back flying over the Zinnias and battling other males.  I can’t imagine this guy would ever make it to Mexico, but what do I know.

Male Monarch With Torn Wing On Orange Zinnia

The male in the pictures above wasn’t the most damaged Monarch that came to visit.  Check out this one on the pink Zinnia.  It’s missing a whole bunch of different parts of both wings, but that’s not the worst.

Tattered Monarch On Pink Zinnia

Have a look at this poor thing when it has its wings spread.  Look the male in the previous photographs, I can’t imagine this Monarch making it all the way to Mexico in this condition.

Very Tattered Monarch With Wings Spread On Pink Zinnia

It’s not all bad news.  We did have some “newer” looking Monarchs appear as well.  This male appeared later in the afternoon.  He was drawn to this red Zinnia that has a little bit of Maggie’s (our Golden Retriever) hair in the middle.  We also counted 15 Monarch caterpillars on the different Milkweed plants throughout the backyard.  We’re letting them stay outdoors since the weather has been so nice.

Monarch On Red Zinnia With Dog Hair In Middle

One last thing and I’d like to hear thoughts from others that tag Monarchs.  The last few days I’ve decided not to tag Monarchs.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  One, some of these Monarchs are so torn up I didn’t want to even attempt to try and attach a sticker to their wing.  The second reason (and this is the part I’m curious on what others have to say) is that it seems tagging these Monarchs causes them a little stress.  We’ve noticed that in many of the Monarchs we tag don’t come back to the yard after we tag them.  The ones we don’t tag frequent the yard for a few days.  I’m thinking that as much as these Monarchs need nectar for their flight to Mexico (especially this year), I don’t want to stress them out and have them struggle to find other nectar sources when I have so much in my yard.

What do you think?  Have you observed Monarchs being stressed from tagging?  How do you think it affects them?

Female Monarch Basking In The Sun On Yellow Zinnia

Female Monarch Basking In The Sun On Yellow Zinnia Side View

In addition to the female Monarch that we released today, we also tagged a male with a torn wing (no pictures), and had a returning male Monarch.

Previously Tagged Male Monarch On Orange Zinnia

Previously Tagged Male Monarch On White Zinnia

Thus far we have tagged a total of 20 Monarchs so far this season.

Tonight, just around dusk, I noticed a Monarch flying all around the backyard, but never landing on anything.  I wondered if it was trying to find a suitable place to rest for the evening, so I intentionally did not try and tag it.

It turns out I was correct.  It’s a male Monarch who decided to spend the night in our Maple Tree (I just checked, he’s still out there at 9:51 pm).  I had to use my flash, otherwise I would have never gotten the shot.  He looks a little worn on the sides, and is missing a few pieces of wing on the bottom, but he can definitely fly well.  He probably spent a good 20 minutes flying around the yard decided where he was going to roost for the night.

I wish there were a way to plan for this, but wouldn’t it be awesome to have a big roost of Monarch Butterflies in your yard for the night?  I know Maple trees are not the preferred resting place, and I would dread putting up a decent size Pine tree in my yard, but it’s a nice thought, nonetheless.

So for the tree and Monarch experts out there or just Monarch lovers that have witnessed a decent roost, what types of trees in the Houston area would/do they prefer?  Does anyone have any good idea?

Male Monarch Butterfly Resting For The Night In Maple Tree

Worn Male Monarch Butterfly Resting For The Night

One was a returning male Monarch that we had previously tagged. It was feeding in the early morning on the white flowers of the Butterfly Bush.

Male Monarch Butterfly On White Butterfly Bush Against Sky Background

The second one was one that we had not previously tagged and it was getting nectar from one of the yellow Zinnia flowers.

Untagged Monarch On Yellow Zinnia

The final Monarch Butterfly we saw today is one that emerged from our outdoor Butterfly enclosure.  I cheated on this picture because I intentionally placed it on the Shrimp plant while it was expanding and drying its wings.  I just wanted a different picture from what I’ve been taking.

Monarch Butterfly Inflating Wings On Shrimp Plant

First, the image below is a picture of the Butterfly that we found in the yard today, unable to fly, and with deformed wings.  There’s not really much you can do if the Butterfly cannot fly, although in the past I have raised one that did have this condition and somehow it mated (a male Monarch attached itself while the Butterfly was feeding on Milkweed), laid eggs, and had many offspring.  You can read the multiple stories about this adventure of “Timothia” by clicking here, and reading from the bottom up.

Deformed Monarch Butterfly Found In Yard

My understanding of why this can occur (as why as Monarch caterpillars fail to form a Chrysalis) is related to several factors.  One of the most common is due to the OE (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha) parasite.  Before I go further, for good explanations of OE, I recommend Valerie Evanson’s  Monarch Diseases site and The University of Minnesota’s Monarch Lab.  Unfortunately, this parasite is very common (I think I recall up to 70% of Monarch Butterflies in the South).  In layman’s terms, this parasite essentially weakens the Butterfly or Caterpillar and often the Chrysalises fail to form, turn brown, or results in a Butterfly with deformed, crinkled wings.  There is loads of information on the web about how to test a Butterfly for this parasite (yes I have and do, do this) and a microscope.  Since I know folks don’t tend to want to read long blog posts from me, just do a search for Monarch Butterfly OE Disease.

What has also been a somewhat common occurrence is when Monarch Caterpillars fail to form a Chrysalis.  Besides OE, Monarchs can be attacked by the Tachnid Fly.  Again, you can do a search on that term, but what happens in my experience is that Monarch Caterpillars that fail to form a Chrysalis (just hanging limp from the original “J” shape), or the Butterfly fails to form from the Chrysalis.  In both of these instances, you may notice a long white string emerging from the Caterpillar or Chrysalis, and eventually you’d see these little fly larvae (it’s as gross as it sounds).

There are other diseases and parasites that can affect Monarch Butterflies and Caterpillars, but those are two of the most common in my experience.

If you read my stories on “Timothia” you’ll see that was quite a series of events (almost miraculous), but I wouldn’t advise doing that now.  The reason is because it likely just spreads further diseases among the Monarchs, and they need all the help that they can get.  When I have a deformed Monarch with crinkled wings, I simply place it in a plastic bag, then place it in the freezer.  It’s the most humane thing I can think of to do.

It was a good day for photography and Monarchs.  We had 1 Monarch (a female) who eclosed today from the outdoor Butterfly enclosure.  Here’s the interesting part.  I take this new Monarch out of the Butterfly enclosure and place her on an orange Zinnia to let her wings continue to dry out.  Suddenly, another female Monarch appears, one that we had tagged previously, and she lands right beside the one that I just placed on the Zinnia.  Out comes the camera for that!

The one on the right is the tagged Monarch, the one on the left is the one that recently emerged from the Chrysalis.

Newly Hatched Monarch And Previously Tagged Monarch On Orange Zinnia

The rest of the pictures I just enjoyed taking today at different times.

Monarch Butterfly On Orange Zinnia With Wildflower Background

Monarch Butterfly On Pink Zinnia With Blooming Zinnia In Background

Monarch Butterfly On Pink And Yellow Zinnia

As I’ve mentioned hundreds of times already, these Butterflies (and others) are drawn to the nectar in the Zinnia gardens.  This is definitely a plant I’m going to keep.  For what it’s worth, they are most attracted to the yellow and orange Zinnias, along with the occasional Pink.  They seem to avoid the red ones.  Although I have Milkweed all over the yard, I haven’t seen many frequent the flowers on there near as much as the Zinnia.

Monarch Butterfly Getting Nectar On Pink And Yellow Zinnias

Male Monarch Getting Nectar On Pink And Red Zinnias

Female Fall 2011 Migration Monarch On Milkweed