Monarch Monday

Big poops on a Common Milkweed leaf underneath a seriously chewed-back leaf? That’s a sign!

Ah… not on the Milkweed, but down in the grasses, perhaps in retreat from all the rain.

Two days later at the same patch, more eaten leaves, more poop.

And ah-hah again! Was this the same individual?

Maybe, but as I was maneuvering for a shot, I noted this one, even closer to me. So, there were at least two of these fat cats, close to pupation-time in this patch of milkweed.

Which for some reason had been deadheaded, the flowers cut off. Monarchs eat the leaves, so that’s fine, but the nectar in the flowers is host to a wide-variety of insects, pollinators and predators. Hideous decapitated, latex-leaking stalks now populate this area. What were they thinking as they left the damn invasive lilies?