The Monarchs have descended upon Cape May! In huge numbers. Numbers unheard of for this early in the season. This deserves its own lengthy post, however, so stay tuned for Week 2 count numbers!
I am lucky to have many Monarch helpers. One such helper is an 8 year old boy who has become a rock star at catching Monarchs. The other day, we had an interesting learning opportunity—one I am not sure I was prepared to teach. The helper, let’s call him Scott, ran over to me all excited. I had stationed myself on a bench, tagging away, as my Monarchs were hand delivered by an enthusiastic Scott. “I think this one is a father and a son,” Scott announced.
Puzzled, I decided to humor him, “Now, why do you think that?”
He proceeded to tell me that the two “ends” had been attached when he grabbed them. Ohhhhhhh. It soon dawned on me what he was talking about. The two “ends” were the abdomens of the Monarchs. And upon closer examination, I discovered that this previously attached “father” and “son” were no two males. What we had in our hands was a male and a female. Yep. You guessed it.
“Scott,” I said, “I don’t think this is a father and a son. One is a boy and one is a girl.”
He looks at me for a second, turns and thinks, and then says, “So they are boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“Yeah, they are boyfriend and girlfriend,” I agree.
“So they are the kissing kind of boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“Yeah. Exactly. The kissing kind.”
And together we agreed, that in the future, we would not disturb the boyfriend and girlfriend Monarchs.
So you can watch or take pictures, but please don’t disrupt the Monarchs who are dating!
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