You’ll never guess what Bix and I discovered this weekend! Butt-thra, our monarch butterfly, had babies!
Here it is just 20 days later and the eggs that she laid on our butterfly weed have already hatched and grown. I had no idea it all happened so quickly!
After I spotted the one above, I came across a few more babies a little while later…
What you don’t see is a tiny caterpillar who hasn’t made its way into view yet. So four babies counted so far!
From what I’ve learned, there are three generations of monarchs during the warm season. The last generation — the one born in August-September — is the one that makes the 2,000 mile flight to Mexico. That makes these fellas future travelers.
Isn’t that exciting?
Tags: creatures, garden, native plants
Errrr…. it takes 2 butterflies to make more. They are not like aphids which are born pregnit with there own granddaughters inside.
So it is safe to assume that you must have a 2nd one about. And if there is a 2nd, perhaps you have more, and perhaps the caterpillars are the children of other butterflies? Not Butt-hra?
Just perhaps… Probably not tho. ;-)
BTW, I dug up and brought in a fennel bulb for dinner on Monday, and put all the lush greens in water.
Yesterday I found a baby butt-thra chomping away on the fennel. In the kitchen.
yes, i know dear! the caterpillars have at least two parents. we’re reasonably sure it was Butt-thra who hung around the garden for most of the day every day, although she did occasionally fly off. we never saw two monarchs together so i think she had to venture out to meet her true love. i realize these are assumptions, of course.
a Butt-thra baby on your fennel! ha! love that. :)