A bit battered but isn't he just beautiful?
****As you may know, our New Zealand Monarchs do not migrate to anywhere, other than forming in clusters, in tall trees in parks, to overwinter.
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So here we are at the tail end of our New Zealand Winter, with Spring coming in at a very fast clip and look who I spotted in Paihia yesterday.
A bit battered but isn't he just beautiful? ****As you may know, our New Zealand Monarchs do not migrate to anywhere, other than forming in clusters, in tall trees in parks, to overwinter. We understand about predators and how one creature needs to feed off another, in order to survive. It's a necessary aspect of life, yet also a cruel one.
Today I witnessed such an occurrence and it held a sad connotation for me. We were walking past a tall swan plant (milkweed), a few houses along the road from our house, when I noticed Monarch butterfly wings hanging high in the plant. We pulled that section of the plant closer and discovered it to be a praying mantis holding onto the remains of a Monarch butterfly. The head and most of the abdomen had been completely eaten away. In studying the wings I realised it was a male Monarch I had photographed mating in our garden a few days before. I recognised the location of several tears on it's wings, which I checked against my earlier photos. It was a small male with quite battered wings, suggesting it to be towards the latter time of its life. I had witnessed it mating, so arguably it had performed its life purpose. I had watched that Monarch circling around in our garden for some weeks, sometimes twirling with another Monarch, other times supping on nectar from the flowers, other times just resting on leaves. It was a joy to watch. I'll miss it. Some years I've still had Monarch chyrsalis' hatching in late June, so it's no surprise to still be seeing plenty of butterflies in late February.
This fellow is lovely to watch. He comes every day. Our garden is small and set down in a little hollow. Round and round he glides, over the trees and the flowers, over the neighbour's roof, then back to the flowers. Late in the afternoon he stops from time to time, to rest and soak up the sun on his wings, in a Guava tree that gets full sun right through the afternoon. Another butterfly or two will come through and they do little twirls together, then fly off in their respective directions. We also have several white butterflies and a Long-tailed Blue, behaving similarly. It's most pleasant to watch. 🦋 The butterflies coming into my garden seem to adore Purpletop vervain (Verbena bonariensis).
Over the years I have spent a lot of money buying 'nectar flowers', as a way of enticing butterflies here, however usually the plants don't do well because our Summers are hot and dry and we don't have enough water to keep the garden going. In walking around the area where we live, I had noticed how butterflies flocked to the Verbena growing along the side of the road. The plant is considered a weed, here, so no-one bothers with it. It's a really tough plant and seems to withstand hot, dry, summers well. One day last summer, while we were out walking, I brought a plant home and planted it. That plant has done well and must have thrown out some seed because this summer we have even more plants popping up. The little purple flowers have gone on blooming for months and now, in hot dry February, they are still great with many butterflies coming to them each day. These photos show just a few of the butterflies that visited us today, We are loving it. If you spend time observing the behaviour of Monarch butterflies, you'll notice that they'll take a rest, every now and then. Both males and females do it.
Today I observed a male butterfly swirling round and round in our garden, sipping nectar from various flowers. After a while he flew to our banana plant and rested on a drying leaf stalk for a good 15 minutes, then up he flew round and round again. If you watch the females, especially when they're laying, they spend quite a time laying eggs then rest on another plant for a while. Of course these rest times are perfect for grabbing photo opportunities. Monarch Butterflies are over-wintering in a small cluster in Paihia, on the Village Green and behind the library. I've seen them.
Last Winter I didn't see too many Monarchs in the usual tree they had previously clustered together in. This Winter they are there and they are also in another tree nearby - a Flame Tree. What a thrill to have seen them, yesterday. This is not a large cluster, mind you, and would be 15 Monarchs at the most. Nevertheless fabulous to see them. For those who don't know. Our New Zealand Monarchs do not migrate to anywhere in the Winter here. Rather they remain where they are and cluster together in tall trees, to bask in the sun. Some clusters are large and some, like the Paihia cluster, are small. Paihia is in the far north of New Zealand and our Winters are relatively mild, compared to the rest of the country, although it can be very cold and very wet at times. Take a look at my pictures........ I saw this gorgeous male Monarch Butterfly today. We are in Winter in New Zealand, however our butterflies don't migrate anywhere, but rather they join up in clusters in tall trees and hang about together.
Several years ago I found a cluster in a park near to where I live and have noticed the Monarchs clustering there each winter ever since. I'm not talking about lots of butterflies, rather about 10 or so in this particular location. I have also seen another cluster, in a park in a town that's about an hour's drive away. Each Winter I have seen many butterflies there too. It seems the Monarchs always return to their overwintering spots. Today a pristine male Monarch Butterfly flew into our yard and whirled around the Mexican Sunflower plant. There are so many flowers on the plant, the butterfly looked as if it didn't know which one to enjoy first. From flower to flower it cruised, did several wide fly-over loops around the garden and back to the Mexican Sunflower.
I've told you about the plant, haven't I? It's huge - about 3 metres tall, and covered with at least 200 flowers and many more buds to come. It has bloomed really late in our season and I was lamenting that there weren't any butterflies around to enjoy it, so it was a great surprise to see the Monarch flitting around the flowers today. We're not seeing many Monarchs in our garden this Summer. I've especially grown nectar flowers for them, however the butterflies have been noticeably absent. Our Mexican Sunflowers finally came into flower about a month ago (I was well advised that Monarchs love these for nectar) however no Monarch came onto them until today.
Not only did a Monarch settle on the flower and spend time enjoying the nectar, when a sparrow flew a bit too close, the butterfly chased it off. Yes, you read this correctly! The Monarch Butterfly deliberately flew after a sparrow to chase it off, twice. Had we not seen this happen, with our own eyes, we most certainly wouldn't have believed it. The butterfly flew fast and was directly chasing the sparrow. Wherever the sparrow swooped, in and out of tree branches and leaves, the Monarch swooped too. That's another thing, we've never seen a butterfly move so fast. The irony was that, while the butterfly was busy chasing off the sparrow, a honey bee jumped onto the Mexican Sunflower and tucked in to enjoy the nectar. We're having a bumper season of Monarch Butterflies, in New Zealand. My guess is that it's because we are enjoying fabulous Summer weather. Hot clear days interspersed with one or two warm showery days. Our gardens are blooming and lush. It's really quite lovely. In my garden the Swanplants (milkweed) are growing well. They are tall, green and healthy. Right now they are plentifully covered in flowers and swans (the seed pod of the plant). There are unfortunately many Asian Paper Wasps in our area. At this time of year they eat the Monarch butterfly eggs and the caterpillars. To ensure continuance of our New Zealand Monarch Butterflies, many people become citizen scientists and collect Monarch eggs and raise them indoors out of reach of the wasps.
I'm hearing that those raising Monarchs around the country, are also having a bumper summer of Monarch hatchlings. My own citizen science participation is moderate and is indeed a success. Here are some photos of today's lovely male who emerged from his chrysalis and flew off to his butterfly life. |
AUTHOR
Julie Vause
Opua, New Zealand. Keen butterfly photographer and raises Monarch Butterflies for release. " I'm crazy about butterflies and enjoy sharing the beauty and wonder of their transformations." VIDEO
Monarch Caterpillar emerging from egg
Click on video to enlarge
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