Welcome to my new My Majestic Monarchs Blog. This page is coming to us all as a gift for my birthday from my son, Joey, who created, designed and gave me lessons on how to navigate a blog page. This is something that I have wanted to do for quite a while, and I am so grateful to have received this amazing gift. I have been contributing to other butterfly pages with educational information periodically over the past few years. Now I will be moving much of my research and shared experiences with you all here. Topics will vary throughout the year as the monarchs begin their season and progress through to migration with occasional fun facts and tips you may find helpful. My hope is that you enjoy this page and will visit it often.

Thanks for joining me here! ~Monarch Mom

The Milkweed Green House

This is a third year Gomphocarpus Physocarpa. Due to the intensity of the heat we are experiencing this summer, I moved the plant to a yard that is East facing. In the process I disturbed a few small roots and lost less than half the leaves. Fortunately, it bounced back within about 10 days. I prefer to cover the pods with organza bags as soon as they start changing from yellow to a light brown. This helps to keep the aphids or other insects off that like to munch on the pods while they mature. The organza bags also help to keep the seeds contained so they don't fly away and self seed in other areas. What you may notice, is that once the pods turn a light brown, they are days away from popping open and completely drying the outside casing. At this point you will notice the casing is crisp to the touch and this is when I cut them away from the plant. Another thing to know, especially with this large number of pods, is that the plants energy is going to the pods to develop and less to the plant leaves or flowers. If you want your plant to flourish, perhaps for feeding the leaves to caterpillars, then you will want to cut away the flower tops and the pods as they start to develop. This year I was focused on collecting seeds. Now that all pods are removed, the leaves will increase.

Hatchlings and filling up before their first flight

Here are some hatchlings that I took pictures of a couple of years ago. Some are so tiny.

Release Day arrived and at just over 24 hours this monarch was ready to enjoy some nectar from the flowers on a Silky Gold plant.

A day old monarch wasn't quite ready to enjoy the nectar, but it enjoyed sitting on this hibiscus in the garden before it took flight.

This handsome boy took to the Pentas for his nectar fill.

(Monarch Migration Map by the National Park Service - Continental Nomads: Monarch Butterflies - NPS.gov)

Migration Update - Fall 2022

The first monarch migration numbers in coastal California began coming in a little early for Fall, 2022. At Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary the initial count was 3,823 as of October 21, 2022 and the Western Monarch Count indicated over 6,000 monarch butterflies in California for the early season counts with half of them clustering at Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary. Natural Bridges came in with 4,500 and Lighthouse Field at just under 1,500 reported on October 28, 2022. November, more specifically Thanksgiving week, will be the traditional first count of the year for all of the California coastal areas where monarchs are known to cluster and roost as they overwinter.

These early reports are very promising as the overwinter season opened. If you get a chance and live near either of these two areas or as far east as Ventura County there are plenty of sites to visit right in your own backyard. In 2021 Ventura County reached a count of 28,465. I understand there are over 200 sites known to overwinter monarchs, and it is definitely worth doing some research on what is near you. I have been to a few, and it is an absolutely breathtaking experience.

Now let's jump forward with an overall comparison of just a few sites previously mentioned. Pacific Grove hit a higher number report by December, 2022, with 15,960 monarchs counted, that's over 12,000 up from October! Pismo Beach on November 1, 2022 reported 24,052 monarchs counted! As of November 8, 2022, Natural Bridges indicated a count of 6,400 followed with Lighthouse Field at 3,000. Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count tallies nearly 250,000 butterflies - reported by Xerces.org. It went on from there and surpassed the 300,000 counts for 2022, according to the Xerces Society. I have not yet seen the January counts, we will be waiting patiently, sort of! It's all so very amazing knowing that just two years ago in 2020, the count was only 2,000!

My Majestic Monarchs Waystation #37798

A handsome male monarch being placed on Silky Gold milkweed.

This male appears to be warming up in the sun.

This pretty lady may just be looking for her next quick snack.

She seems to be enjoying the garden, resting on a plumeria tree.

A Truly Spectaculator Chrysalis

The black coloring is seen in the final transformation stage. The cuticle itself is actually a clear outer layer. In this picture there are a couple indicators that this monarch is about to eclose; also called emerge. Shortly before they eclose, the butterfly's wings will become more visible, and you will be able to make out the pattern. The upper portion just above the gold color line is called abdominal segments and will open slightly which is the perfect sign that the butterfly will show its magic and prepare to come out of the cuticle, usually within a day. This is indeed the most exciting and nerve wrecking time as you wait in anticipation for what is about to happen.

In the second picture, you can see that the adult butterfly has fully exited and is now hanging to dry its wings. Look closely and you will notice that its wings are crinkled. This is normal. There is a fluid called meconium that is pumped into the crinkled wings and unfolds and smooths the wings as in the third picture. It can take up to 2 hours for the process to complete and the wings to fully dry.

Welcoming an adult butterfly

Whether the butterfly ecloses in a home habitat or outside in nature, the steps that follow are the same.

After filling its wings, the butterfly begins to zip up its proboscis. The proboscis initially has the appearance of a separated forked tip. It is important for the butterfly to zip it up completely, which in turn will act like a straw and is used for feeding.

It is normal for an adult to delay feeding for 24-48 hours.

If you are wondering when the monarch will take its first flight, well that depends. Weather conditions play a big part, the temperature of the day as well as the butterfly's metabolism and warming of its flight muscles must all align for the monarch to take flight. Butterflies do not fly in the rain or at night when it is dark. Their metabolism must be sufficient warmed, and their flight muscles need to reach approximately 55F.

There is nothing like seeing for the first time, a monarch taking flight and spreading it's wings ever so gracefully. A truly Majestic Monarch!

Catepillar Instars : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Let's take a look at the five stages of a monarch larva, aka caterpillar.

In another section, I will include eggs that the mother monarchs lay on the milkweed.

When a larva hatched from it's shell, it is very tiny and this is known as a 1st Instar. On a 1st instar if you look for their filament or tentacles (As an identifier, I will call it antennas, not a true name in this case), you can barely see anything, but perhaps two tiny black dots. Also newly hatched they are very light in color and no noticeable line variation yet.

2nd Instars you will be able to see the filament starting to extend slightly and the larva is almost 4x's the size. Yes, they grow quickly. You will also start to see the black lines become more visible.

3rd Instar again has increased considerably in size and the three color combination is becoming much more visible. The filaments are now can barely reach the length of the face.

4th Instar has grown quick noticeably larger, the three colors of yellow, black and white are very prominent and the tentacles are twice the length of the face.

5th Instar by far is the largest in size, with tentacles three times the length of the face and interestingly enough, this is the only instar in which the tentacles are actually touching the surface they are walking on as it moves.

Instar stages picture is by Butterfly-Lady.com

From Instars to Chrysalis to being an adult monarch

Milkweed is the only food source for a monarch caterpillar, known as it's host plant and there are over 100 species of this plant. For Western Monarchs, you will find native plants that are considered a healthier choice of milkweed as it goes dormant and dies back on its own, which helps to eliminate OE (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha), which is a protozoan parasite (I'll write more about that later). Other non-native milkweed is also a food source, however it requires that it gets cut back to its main stem periodically. Milkweed is known to have cardiac poison and these very toxins protect the adult monarch butterfly from predators.

One monarch caterpillar will eat as much as 20 large leaves or one entire plant in its larva stage.

There are a large variety of flowers that provide nectar sources to the adult butterfly. Milkweed is the food source for the monarch larva and nectar from flowers are the food source for the adult butterflies. Milkweed also provides flowers that provide nectar, a win win!

This adult is tasting her fruit with her front legs and feeding with her extended proboscis. Notice how she places it into the watermelon. She will move it around until she finds the perfect opening to be able to suck up the juice of the fruit.

In this picture you will see her proboscis is rolled up under her head. This is normal when it is not in use. The proboscis is a tube like shape similar to a straw. and his is what she will use to suck up the nectar from the flower.

Things to consider until our next visit.

-Remember to check out your seeds that you have been collecting to see which you may be able to sow through the months of January, February and March: milkweed and nectar seeds.

-Consider using seed starter soil to give your seedlings a great boost. You'll later transfer them to planting soil in containers so it's a reasonable and inexpensive investment.

-Seed starting trays with soil cells, draining tray and a dome is an easy way to get started. Adding a lighting source if you are starting them indoors is suggested.

-Collect a little rain water, if you are able, to use on your growing seeds and seedlings, actually on all your plants as it has nitrates, a form of nitrogen, key nutrients they'll appreciate. Also remember to water them from the bottom up.

-Establishing a pollinator habitat can be very much enjoyed by butterflies, bees, lots of natures creatures and by you!

Thanks for taking a few minutes to browse through my blog. I hope you have found it to be a fun, educational and an inspiring page. Reach out if you want to know more about raising butterflies or creating an outdoor habitat for our pollinators. I hope you'll join me again soon! ~Monarch Mom

Unless otherwise stated, all pictures are my own.

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