Posts Tagged: Danaus plexippus
A Monarch Kind of Day

Today was a Monarch Kind of Day...in Vacaville. When Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, searched for butterfly...
Two monarchs arrived today at a pollinator garden in Vacaville to sip nectar from a patch of Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Both monarchs settle down to do some serious nectaring on the Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Time to go! Both monarchs get ready for take-off. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch sips nectar from a sky-high Tithonia in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Of Presidents and Monarchs

Happy Presidents' Day. It's day we honor not only George Washington and Abraham Lincoln but all the men (no women yet!) who have served as President...
A monarch on the American flag. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
'Twas the Night Before Chrysalis...

'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse --Clement Clarke Moore We never tire of...
A monarch chrysalis hangs like an ornament. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch ecloses. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The monarch wiggles around and soon will dry its wings and take flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male monarch spreads its wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Independence Day for a Monarch

Have you ever seen a monarch butterfly eclose? It's a magical moment. First an egg, then a caterpillar, then a chrysalis, and then a butterfly,...
The monarch chrysalis bulges, a sure sign that eclosure is imminent. At right is a newly formed green chrysalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Out it slides. Swoosh! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Time to wiggle around. Welcome to the world! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Time to pump up the wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Just you wait, soon I'll be a familiar looking butterfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
I'm swinging and swaying. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ah, as soon as I dry, I'll be off and long gone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
David James' Incredible Research on Migratory Monarchs

Newly published research by entomologist David James of Washington State University, Pullman, Wash., in the Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society...
This male monarch, released by citizen scientist Steve Johnson of Ashland on Aug. 28, 2016, fluttered into Vacaville, Calif., on Sept. 5, a 457-kilometer journey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The male monarch, No. 6093, sips nectar from a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia on Sept. 5, 2016. It traveled 457 kilometers from Ashland to Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A feast! This migrating monarch from Ashland, Ore., sipped nectar from a butterfly bush, Buddleia davidii in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
WSU entomologist David James, wearing a monarch t-shirt, with citizen-scientist inmates at Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla.
Monarchs overwintering in the Natural Bridges State Park, Santa Cruz, in 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)