| Comments | We found a very large "wild" female monarch on the A. curassavica plants in the butterfly garden this morning. Her wings measured 52 mm front and 47 mm rear. She had no tatter, but some fade and missing scales to indicate about 7 to 14 days of "out and about". A fade of ~1, 0 being "new" and 5 "totally worn out". We had a female that eclosed yesterday whose front wings measured 53mm ... exceptional! We see 4 to 6 monarchs paralleling the coast from NE to SW every afternoon going home. All females we have observed are laying eggs ... or will in a day or two ... so no diapause for these "coastal monarchs" as of yet. |
