More monarchs!

We had migrating monarchs last week. Not as many as we used to get many years ago, but certainly more than I've seen in the last 5 years or so. I'm not good at guessing numbers, but I'd say there were maybe 50 of them... or maybe closer to 100... which is a pretty small flock, but at least they were here! I found them in the morning, resting on the north side of the trees along our driveway. There was a pretty strong south wind all day, so the butterflies just stayed there all day, not attempting to fly against that wind.

Of course the wind made it harder to get good photos, too, but I think I did okay. It was hard to choose from the many I took, so this post may be "photo overload". :) I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

They sat most of the time with their wings together.....

..... but if I moved much, some of them fluttered around and came back. Compare the above photo with the next:

I like the "flat" one below:

So, so pretty!!

They stayed there overnight. The next morning it was very foggy, and when I checked on the butterflies, I noticed that they were all covered with heavy mist, the poor things. Click on the pic below to see it bigger... and note the water droplets on its antennae!

They were still able to fly, and flapping their wings shook the moisture off. They left later that morning.

The chrysalises that my caterpillars made are still hanging. They should be hatching soon. They'd better hurry up if they want to make it south for the winter. The first chrysalis is kind of black and icky-looking, like something's wrong with it, and the last caterpillar didn't finish shedding its skin and died, but there are three that still look good. I'll let you know if/when they hatch!