2020 November 25

 

   Amazing butterfly sighting! –  from Mr E, behind Red Barn Grocers in Oak Bay today, November 25.   On the very rare occasions that Monarchs appear here, we are never sure of their provenance – are they genuine wild butterflies, or have they been released at a wedding or something?   Probably at least some of them are wild, but at this time of year, when western populations of Monarchs would be expected to be wintering in California, the provenance of this Oak Bay specimen must be at least slightly suspect!  There is some information about commercially-reared Monarchs in an article by Annie Pang in the November-December 2011 issue of the Victoria Naturalist.

 

Monarch Butterfly Danaus plexippus (Lep.: Nymphalidae – Danainae)  Mr E