All of today’s 6 eclosures were male.
Only 6 of local first generation left hanging but another 12 hatchlings and 30 eggs in process for second generation.
To date this week 43 releases with 7 pending out of 52 eggs tracked.
Doing well.
First eggs of next gen moving from incubator tray to plants.
Just seemed to start last night and busy today.
First year with a large outdoor enclosure catching morning light.
Determined from other years that the morning sun triggers the eclose. In past years with shaded fabric enclosures outside or in the kitchen, the butterflies started emerging between 9:00 - 11:00.
Now they start at 7:00 and continue for about an hour, as first hot sun hits the screens.
The Obervation:
With 29 butterflies emerging over four days, a pattern has emerged.
The males all eclose first/earlier, followed by the females shortly after.
I know it takes about 2-3 days for the internal eggs to mature in a female after eclosing, but they seem to need that extra 40 minutes of sunlight in pupa.
These guys took only 2 days to hatch and literally tripled overnight.
In southern Ontario, the third generation migrators arrived over a month ago from the Midwest after leapfrogging two generations from Mexico.
They have reproduced locally and have since died. Their offspring are currently eclosing and starting to breed for the first full local generation and boy are they going to grow fast in this heat.
The offspring of these eggs that hatched overnight and in the coming two or three weeks will be the “super”/diapausal/migratory generation.
Those are the ones I pay the most attention to and try to get the numbers up. As the cats grow they are deliberately fed declining quality of milkweed (though always fresh); older and tougher. They spend every second outdoors with natural light and temperature. This is all to trigger their migratory instincts.
Had 1 yesterday and 7 this morning. Interesting in that all 8 have been females.
This little lady exclosed today. The first of 48, the second pic is the last straggler.
The offspring from the 3rd (?) northward migratory generation are all about to eclose shortly, forming the first local generation that will then produce the south heading migrants.
Milkweed(s) growing back now after being decimating by bunnies. Had to fence off the main patch because it couldn’t supply the horde.
Milkweed(s) starting to recover after being decimated by bunnies. Had to fence them out this year.
All the first arrival eggs have hatched and I have about 80 cats on the go from a first that hatched this morning to mostly 4’s and 5’s with many 5’s finding their places to hang.
Filling up rapidly considering how early it is
Always my greatest fear when cleaning and resetting. I quadruple check every leaf, every crevice, uncurl every tiny hiding spot. Then I put the spend food at the base of a healthy plant in the garden rather than in the composter, so IF I miss one it stands a chance.
ALMOST got tripped up today. Did one last check and voila, Houdini showed up.
The milkweed is struggling due to the bunnies and I guess she didn’t find it to her satisfaction. Despite hitting on six plants only laid one egg.
Today on a quick walkabout was a few eggs and lots of new hatchlings.
Most were from today, maybe one or two from yesterday. A lot more “signs” (partial egg shell, tiny chew patches, etc.) than actual cats.
The ones that survived were canny enough to get DEEP into the developing flower heads. Most of the plants that showed a recent hatching but no cat had a spider in the crown.
There are actually 10 babies in that vase.
Looks like the season is kicking off early.
Eggs everywhere on my walk this morning despite not very much milkweed.
My plants at home are being decimated by bunnies. Gonna have to discourage them if I’m going to feed the hordes that are coming.
Taking back empties and got $9.00 change instead of .20
Overnight, the milkweed popped up to be 1-1/2” tall this morning (southern Ontario)