Monarch Monitoring Project Week 6

Week 6 was another great one with a season high of 97.23 monarchs/hour! On the 10th, residents on Alexander Avenue may have heard me squealing like a 3 year old as I spent a good part of the morning tagging up a storm as Monarchs gathered on Eupatorium and Seaside Goldenrod. That day,we went from a census count of 113 monarchs at 9 AM to 8 monarchs by 3PM that afternoon, which goes to show how quickly things can change.

It's hard to believe that the Monarch season is coming to a close in the matter of a couple of weeks. This means that we have arrived at our last week of official tagging demonstrations *tear*. If you haven't had the opportunity to see us in action at the State Park, please stop on by to catch one of our final 4 demos (this Wednesday and Friday-Sunday at 2PM). The Monarch team will also be making appearances during Autumn Weekend.

Hopefully you have already registered for all of the exciting festivities in store for this year's 63rd annual Autumn Weekend, but there will still be other events in case you missed the October 5th deadline. All information, events, and special workshops happening that week can be found at this link:

http://www.birdcapemay.org/autumn.shtml

This past Sunday, Cape May Point had a very special visitor found by the Monarch Team and it only makes sense that this exceptionally beautiful butterfly should be...

Week 6's Butterfly of the Week: The Sleepy Orange (Eurema nicippe)




This picture was snapped by Michael O'Brien, who took time out from the record breaking Big Sit (with a grand total of 146 species counted!) this weekend at the Hawkwatch to get this shot.

Identification Points: Average Wingspan of 1.65" Deep orange above with diagonal brown markings on the hindwing (seen from below); Antennae are black as opposed to bright pink found in Orange Sulfurs.

Habitat: Wet meadows, open fields, and road sides

Host Plants: Sennas and chamaecristas; Specifics include: Wild Senna, Wild Sensitive Plant, and Partridge Pea.

Interesting Facts: The Sleepy Orange is another tropical butterfly species (just like our Monarchs). This butterfly resides year-round in the Deep South and colonizes areas rarely further north than North Carolina each year, making this appearance in Cape May on October 11th a very rare sighting. The Sleepy Orange flies considerably closer to the ground than the Orange Sulfur with much weaker wingbeats - if you catch a glimpse of this butterfly, you will undoubtedly be looking down at it. The Sleepy Orange is also often called a "Rambling Orange."

This week, we have a special treat for everyone: Several members of the community have spent parts (or all) of some recent afternoons sitting and waiting for the emergence of a Monarch from its chrysalis. All their patience paid off and Michael O' Brien was there to capture the rare sequence. Enjoy!