July 24th, 2006
monarchs and swallowtails
Today was extraordinary for the butterfly activity here the farm. Since our arrival home a couple of days ago, I’ve been seeing many Monarchs (Danaus plexippus plexippus) — more than I’ve seen in any year in recent memory. I probably can’t walk more than 200 feet without seeing at least one flitting over the trail or fields.
This morning, I could see several Monarchs feeding on the last of the milkweed flowers in the stand outside the bedroom window. I went out with my camera and photographed a few, one being this very worn-looking individual perched on a bull thistle head (click on image to see larger view). I’d love to know where it’s been all summer before turning up in the garden.
This afternoon, I went for the first of two insect walks through the fields. Monarch were flitting everywhere. I accidentally disturbed a mating pair that went sailing off together, one hanging upside down below while the other carried it away on the breeze. I regretted not having noticed the pair, but within seconds, I spotted a second pair perched nearby (see photo at left). I photographed them and then continued on my way, now spotting other pairs flying overhead. What a sight.
Later in the afternoon, on my second insect walk, my feet led me into the back pasture which is now wildly overgrown with vegetation. Monarchs were soaring in every direction. I gazed around, looking for mating pairs, and soon spotted the pair in the top photo on this post (click on image for larger view). Moving on, I saw Monarchs resting atop plants, slowly fanning their wings — obviously a form of display for the benefit of other Monarchs. Many times, I saw one of the soaring Monarchs drop down to check out one of the resting Monarchs. Sometimes they would both fly together, whirling about before separating to check out other butterflies.
I soon came upon a pair of Viceroys (Limenitis archippus archippus) perched right beside the trail. One, the male, I suppose, was putting on quite a performance as it flitted around the plant, turning this way and that while fanning its wings. I shot a little movie of their activity. It’s about 50 seconds long. As an experiment, I made two versions and uploaded them. The first is the usual QuickTime version (approx. 2.4mb), while the second is an mp4 version (approx. 1.4mb). Neither has sound. I made them both available in case anyone has trouble playing QT movies. [edit: sorry for some temporary confusion on the file name and text here - it's all corrected now, but was probably haywire for a few minutes after I posted this piece]
At the end of the movie, you’ll see one of the butterflies zooming up and out of the picture. It tore off to chase away a Black Swallowtail (Papilo polyxenes asterias) butterfly that had dived down to check out the pair of Viceroys. There seemed to be a lot of inter-species interest and activity over the fields today. I noticed a Monarch flying up to a Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele cybele), and the two whirling around together for a few moments before going their separate ways. The “energy” in the field was palpable today — and all rather exciting, even for a non-Lepidoptera such as myself.
Later this afternoon, Don noticed a Black Swallowtail butterfly sitting on the clover beside the front porch. I picked up my camera and headed out the door, but by the time I reached the bottom porch step, the butterfly was heading down the lane and out through the front gates. I rarely get a chance to photograph that species, but as mentioned before, I never bother chasing butterflies, so I shrugged off my disappointment and let it go. My best shots have always been pure serendipity, and that certainly proved to be the case about a half hour later. While I was in the midst of photographing a Flower Crab Spider (Misumena vatia) hiding among the flowers of a Milkweed plant, a Black Swallowtail flew up and landed on another flower cluster on the same plant, so I shot three photos before it flitted away. And so ended my day of butterfly watching here at the farm. It will have to be a pretty good day to top this one.
Tags: Monarch, Danaus plexippus plexippus, Black Swallowtail, Papilo polyxenes asterias, Great Spangled Fritillary, Speyeria cybele cybele, Viceroys, Limenitis archippus archippus