he flew to her | Winged Beauty Butterflies

Monarch Butterflies Coupled photographed by Jeff Zablow at the National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

These monarchs, coupled together in the perennial gardens of the National Butterfly Center (NBC), were the largest Monarch butterflies that I have ever seen. They are much larger than the thousands I’ve seen.

The female can be seen, she under the male. I’d seen her nectaring on these very same milkweed blooms, slowly and patiently. He flew to her, and they remained as you see them here, for a handful of minutes. They flew away, the male carrying her along with him.

An unforgettable moment at the Mission, Texas NBC, less than a handful of miles from the Mexico border wall.

Jeff

Monarch Butterflies Coupled photographed by Jeff Zablow at the National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

My recollection is that beginning with those empty lots in East Flatbush Brooklyn, they awaiting the inevitable construction of new homes, and continuing here in Georgia’s Piedmont region in 2019, I have seen some 2,867 Monarch butterflies. That includes Monarchs seen in New York state, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Arizona, Missouri and Oklahoma.

When I saw this coupled pair of Monarchs, he was with wings spread, in the Perennial Gardens of the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas near the border wall. These two Monarchs were the largest Monarchs I’d ever seen. She flew onto this Lantana plant first, and moments later he flew to her, with much force, and they joined bodies.

I stood there, wondering why these Texas Danaus Plexxipus individuals were so much larger than any I’d ever seen before??

Jeff