Monarch butterflies are migrating through Dallas now. It seems that we usually see them fly through Dallas anytime between September 15th and October 15th.
I started seeing single Monarchs flying in my garden around September 23rd this year. On the weekend of October 1st, I started to see pairs of Monarchs flying around, and I caught the photograph above.
The Monarchs don't seem to be as numerous as in previous years. I am hoping that is not true and is more the result of very limited opportunities for observation on my part.
We have a lot of flowers in our yard providing plenty of nectar for Monarchs migrating from the North down to their breeding grounds in Mexico. This year, I also planted several milkweed plants in hopes that the butterflies would deposit a few eggs on them, maturing into Monarch caterpillars and butterflies.
As you can see from the photograph below, the Monarchs have actually found the milkweed and have been feeding on their flowers. However, I have not found any caterpillar eggs just yet.
If you have also planted milkweed in your garden, you are probably also finding a lot of milkweed bugs on your plants. These bugs are perfectly harmless and like to suck the fluid out of the milkweed seed pods. They do look foreboding though.
Here are a few more of my favorite Monarch photos:
