First time I've seen a Monarch on these zinnias. There are barely any butterflies where we live, so we're grateful for the one Monarch that zooms around the garden each day at the moment. It seems to come at 10am, then about 2pm, occasionally 4pm. It does a few pass-overs, twirls through the trees and, sometimes, lands on a flower. They tend to glide rather than use the quick fluttering of wings seen in smaller butterflies. Have you noticed that? 🦋
This lovely female Monarch Butterfly came floating into our garden today and enjoyed supping nectar from the Zinnias. 🦋 First time I've seen a Monarch on these zinnias. There are barely any butterflies where we live, so we're grateful for the one Monarch that zooms around the garden each day at the moment. It seems to come at 10am, then about 2pm, occasionally 4pm. It does a few pass-overs, twirls through the trees and, sometimes, lands on a flower. They tend to glide rather than use the quick fluttering of wings seen in smaller butterflies. Have you noticed that? 🦋 Early December 2020 and just into Summer, yet we're barely seeing any butterflies in our little far north corner of New Zealand. Yesterday, to my delight, this lovely female Monarch purposefully flew about the garden enjoying nectar from the Verbena flowers and also flowers on the yellow Daisy Bush. She really was positive in her flight path, swinging between the flowers, up and over the roof of out house, then back to the flowers.
Brilliant 🦋 Yesterday we went to a nearby beach. We're coming into Summer in New Zealand and it was a beautiful sunny day. Right in the middle of the beach is a stream outlet flowing into the sea. I was taking photos of the beach, while sitting in the grass beside the stream outlet. As I sat there I saw a Monarch Butterfly flying about and around the trees and plants adjacent to the beach. At one point, as it flew over the top of the stream, it swiftly dropped straight down onto the water and then straight back up again and carried on flying about. I have never seen a butterfly do that before. Its action was very deliberate, so I have no doubt that it knew exactly what it was doing. These are pictures of flying Monarchs, for your enjoyment, and not actually the one I saw at the beach.
Our final Monarch of the season (a male), that emerged from its chrysalis yesterday, flew off to its butterfly life today. I'd kept him indoors over night because our weather was too wet and windy to set it on its way yesterday. Sun came out this morning, so I took him outside to warm his wings in the sun (they can't fly unless the fluid in their wings is warm). Before he went I took some photos. He was just beautiful and perfect. He will now over-winter in a nearby park in tall trees, with a cluster of other Monarch Butterflies. Our New Zealand Monarchs don't migrate anywhere, rather they just form into clusters in tall trees and wait for Spring. Click on each picture below, to see a larger view................. COVID-19 deadly virus has us all in its grip and, here in New Zealand, our entire country is in complete lock-down as of today. It's a strange time for us all, so small, simple pleasures are what we are seeking. This morning, amid the chaos, a butterfly arrived. This lovely female Monarch came into our garden, to sup on Verbena nectar. Round and round she flew, touching down briefly here and there, and eventually landing on the Verbena flowers. During Summer, which we are just coming to the end of, we experienced the worst drought we've ever known - no rain for 53 days straight and 30C+ temperatures during the day. In all that heat and no water, my garden just died, except for the scabby old Verbena plants I collected from the side of the road two years ago. They have self-seeded well and now there are quite a few plants. They might look tatty, but they go on and on flowering and butterflies love them - which was why I brought the plants home in the first place. At last we have a Monarch 🦋🦋🦋 In our little spot, in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, we've barely seen any Monarch Butterflies this season and we're more than half way through it. About 3 weeks ago one came swooping into our garden, laying her eggs on a few of my swan plants (milkweed). As I mentioned in a previous post, I put those first eggs under cover outside because we were on the verge of going away. When we got back two had grown to 5th instar stage and, within a day, had formed their chrysalis's. At that stage I brought them into the house and the countdown began. Yesterday morning, after 9 days in the chrysalis, this beautiful lady emerged quite perfectly. She spent the day sorting herself out then, at about 4pm, flew off to her butterfly life. Click on each picture, to see a larger view................ 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. 🦋 I am so pleased to report that my butterfly photography is back.
My main camera of choice is a fabulous Sony A7R2 however, wonderful and all that it is, I seem quite unable to get good butterfly action photos with it. My previous camera was a Nikon D750, which took great butterflies-in-action photos, along with the Tamron 150-600mm lens. Being frustrated at my lack of ability to get good butterfly shots with the Sony, I have now become the proud owner of another Nikon D750 and Tamron 150-600mm lens. Today I took it out for a first run and I'm pleased with the results. What do you think? 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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September 2023
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