Monarch Project, Day 6

Some (rather clumsy) time lapse of our caterpillars (we now have three). Though there's only around eight seconds of footage here, spanned a little over two and a half hours and shows how the monarch caterpillars pause to rest between bursts of eating. I'd like to try it again for a ten hour period; may set it up tommorow.

Have learned that the Monarch's favorite host plant seems to be the Common Milkweed, as they'll pare down one of the leaves down to nothing in a few hours, whereas they'll take a day or more to graze half a Swamp milkweed leaf. None of them have touched the Butterfly weed yet.

Drake, our injured fish, is doing well. I've given him a little penicillin, he's more active, and his tail seems to be healing up.

Have noticed that the roadside Goldenrod seems to be in bloom, while that in the garden and in the neighbor's plot is still just budding.

Wildlife Spotted this Week:

• American Toad
• Baltimore Oriole
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Blue Jay
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Cedar Waxwing
• Cottontail Rabbit
• Eastern Bluebird
• Eastern Chipmunk
• Goldfinch
• Grackle
• Green Frog
• Grey Catbird
• Grey Squirrel
• Grey Tree Frog
• Monarch Butterfly
• Monarch Caterpillar
• Mourning Dove
• Northern Cardinal
• Nuthatch
• Red Admiral
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Robin
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Western Chorus Frog

Natives in Bloom:

• Bergamot
• Butterfly Weed
• Common Milkweed
• Daisy Fleabane
• Harebell
• Purple Coneflower
• Spiderwort
• Swamp Milkweed