Exactly one month ago as I sat in my backyard office writing, a Minnesota state butterfly stopped on a hanging flower pot just in front of me. June 11, 2013 seemed late for Monarchs but we have had a lot of unusual timing of nature's events this year. Of course, I simply grabbed my nearby Nikon and shot a few frames before the beauty continued it's journey. I am no expert so I decided to post a photo on SmugMug and Facebook and get back to writing. http://lightwritingllc.smugmug.com/Animals/Misc- Animals But my curiosity led me to a little research to ensure I was identifying the creature correctly. A posting online to http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/sighting_details/903015 confirmed I had captured a Danaus plexippus Monarch. It is nice to know for sure, and I may have contributed in a tiny way a little data about the butterfly. Soon I was flitting onto other photos and getting back to writing. Then yesterday I saw an interesting news report that Monarch sightings may be very rare this year. The TV stations and newspapers were all reporting a decline in the population. http://www.twincities.com/minnesota/ci_23632632/population-monarch- butterflies-has-crashed Bummer. It makes me want to go out and plant milkweed, their food source. I have family in Minneapolis who have milkweed behind their garage and the city has labeled it a protected zone. I think they like that. I will keep looking for more Monarchs this year, but I may have been one of the privileged few to get a glimpse and even capture an image in 2013.
