INTRODUCTION
These web pages below present the iconic MONARCH BUTTERFLY at various stages of its life.
Photos, videos and information with links to relevant resources are provided throughout those pages.
For information on the food source of the Monarch caterpillar, please click on MILKWEED.
For the complete list of all the pages of this website please click here.
2020 UPDATE: The 2020 summer season was a dismal one for the Monarch butterfly. It started with a bad winter down in Mexico, then when the first butterflies started arriving in Texas, there was a heat wave which damaged them.
Then it appears that at least in eastern Canada, there were less sightings based on reports from various Monarch Facebook groups in southern New-Brunswick and southern Ontario through the summer.
As for PEI, no sighting reports, except for one female I saw once in my garden in June. Afterwards I found two eggs only on the milkweed, and both were unfertilized unfortunately. See this page for more information.
INFORMATION ON THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY
EGG STAGE
CATERPILLAR (LARVAL) STAGE
CHRYSALIS (PUPA) STAGE
BUTTERFLY (IMAGO) STAGE
PREDATORS
PLANTING A MONARCH-FRIENDLY GARDEN
RAISING MONARCH CATERPILLARS
TAGGING MONARCH BUTTERFLIES
QUESTIONS
GENERAL RESOURCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_butterfly
https://monarchwatch.org/ (Conservation program run by Kansas University)
https://www.canadiangeographic.ca/article/animal-facts-monarch-butterfly
http://accdc.com/mba/profiles/danaus-plexippus.html (Maritimes Butterfly Atlas)
https://monarchlab.org/ (University of Minnesota)
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Danaus_plexippus/ (University of Michigan)
Monarch Joint Venture (a partnership between government agencies, NGOs and academic programs)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks to John Klymko, zoologist and Director of the Maritime Butterfly Atlas, and to Jim Wilson, co-author of Birds of New Brunswick: An Annotated List, for sharing their knowledge in answering my questions on the Monarch Butterfly.
Also thank you to Chris Newell, from the Bedeque Bay Environmental Management Association (BBEMA), for his helpful tips on how to tag Monarch butterflies, and for supplying Monarch tags.