Five Monarch Butterflies Tagged as Monarch Season Gets Underway
By Monika Maeckle, Vice President New Media Business Wire
Not quite Monarch butterflies, Queen butterflies flooded Lucky Boy Ranch this weekend, captivating our crew and keeping tenacious taggers on their toes. About two dozen Monarchs were spotted and we tagged five. Three of those tagged were extremely ragged, highly unlikely arrivals in Michoacan, Mexico.
While Monarchs were conspicuously absent, Painted Ladies, Gulf Fritillaries, Pipevine and Eastern Black Swallowtails, as well as fresh hatches of Sulphurs feasted on the frostweed, goldenrod and cutleaf daisy provided by the Lucky Boy nectar fest.
The crew of Hugh, Jenny, Siobhan and Matt shared the weekend with Bob and Monika, which kicked off with the Presidential Debates at Bobhenge followed by cedar clearing, deer blind building and intermittent Monarch tagging and kayaking.
Praying Mantis Eats a Bee on Frostweed on the banks of the Llano River.
Our clearing project along the riverbank has created a prime butterfly habitat, with nectar aplenty and butterflies in abundance. From kayaks we even spotted some late season Texas Star and Purple Mistflower. A global bee shortage? Not this weekend. Bees were ubiquitous and provided a reassuring hum, our own pagan soundtrack to the weekend.
A praying mantis chowed down on a honey bee, while Siobhan, Bob and Matt witnessed the diamondback watersnake at the Big Riffle. More tagging coming soon, and high hopes for a thunderstorm and a cold front.
Tags: Butterflies, Lucky Boy ranch, Monarch Butterflies, Monarch Migration, tagging Monarch Butterflies, Texas Hill Country, Wildflowers
This entry was posted on October 1, 2008 at 10:44 pm and is filed under Butterflies, Llano River, Monarch Butterflies, Texas Hill Country, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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October 2, 2008 at 2:19 am |
Takes me back! I remember, meditating in those beautiful environs a year ago, when my father was about to fly from us like a ragged butterfly on his own wings — felt it coming there so strongly — no wonder I couldn’t catch a butterfly! cheers to your beautiful descriptions. xxooxxoo