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| A monarch butterfly egg on a milkweed leaf |
Our first monarch visited our yard yesterday (June 16). This is about a week before we've ever seen them here before. Central New York seems to be one of the last places they visit, since even people in Canada have already had them for a while.
I was surprised to see that the butterfly apparently visited only the common milkweed on the edge of my property and then must have gone in the other direction. I found only six eggs, which I brought inside. It completely missed all the other milkweed I have throughout my yard.
I put the eggs on a wet paper towel, and I'll be watching for the caterpillars to emerge in a few days. I'm considering some different methods of raising the caterpillars this year since I'm concerned about the
Oe parasite.
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| A black swallowtail caterpillar eating dill |
Our black swallowtail caterpillar is growing quickly. In this photo, it's eating some of the dill I have in the aquarium, but this pose is unusual. Most of the time it looks like it's just sitting there, not eating at all. This is typical of the black swallowtails we've had. They must be eating somehow because they're growing and are very healthy. They're not at all like the monarch caterpillars, though, which actively chomp on milkweed so quickly you can see it disappear.
The same result comes from both eating patterns, though: beautiful butterflies!
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