The Monarch Butterfly
is probably the best recognized butterfly around. People often plant
Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tuberosa, to encourage the Monarch Butterflies to lay their eggs
(see the single monarch egg below) in their
yards. The Monarch eggs can often be found on the undersides of the
milkweed leaves. The eggs are laid one at a time. Monarch cocoons can be purchased to get your population
started. The Monarch caterpillar feeding on the Butterfly Weed, Asclepias
tuberosa will gradually eat all of the leaves from the plants before
making its cocoon (see below). The Monarch Butterflies will often
migrate back to their where
they left their cocoons. So you can often get the Monarch Butterfly to come
back to your butterfly garden
and lay another season's eggs year after year. Adult Monarchs will feed on goldenrod
(Solidago), a
number of salvias, and a wide variety of plants in the manzanita
family. The migrations of the Monarch Butterfly's are legendary.
Many of the Monarch Butterflies winter in Mexico and make their way to most parts of
North America. Some populations over-winter here in
Southern California. There are a number of eucalyptus groves that
can become draped in butterflies during their stay here in Southern
California. The Monarch Butterfly in the third image is sipping the
nectar of the California native, Narrowleaf Milkweed, Asclepias
fascicularis. The milkweed has a toxin that gets incorporated
into the bodies of the Monarch Butterflies and makes them taste bad to
their predators. There are a number of other butterflies that have
similar enough coloring and markings to keep birds thinking about their
prior bad experience.
These
Monarch Butterfly images are available in high resolution and are part of our photo
collection.
