Here you see a vibrant young female monarch butterfly sipping nectar this week from a bull thistle. She may be part of the migrating generation here that soon will attempt to fly thousands of miles to Monarchland in Mexico. Below, you’ll see a worn out, dying male monarch on desiccated yarrow flowerheads. He was born here and will die here as one of the interim generations; his progeny may be part of the migrating generation.
According to the literature, most adult monarchs, born in the spring and summer here, live for about two to five weeks. However, the final generation, born in late summer, are the long-distance migrants and apparently can live for up to eight or nine months to complete their journey to their overwintering sites. It’s an amazing cycle that I don’t think has been fully understood yet.
This summer, I’ve seen many monarchs, especially males. But, I’ve seen very few monarch caterpillars compared to prior years. Both common (wild) milkweed and cultured milkweeds were in abundance and ready for those little striped butterfly larvae to chew their toxic leaves to shreds and grow into regal butterflies. Here’s a fritiillary on Asclepias tuberosa, a cultured milkweed also known as butterfly weed:
Maybe it’s just me not being in the right place at the right time. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on August 27 (male) and 28 (female), 2025.)