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Today at mid-day saw a reasonably fresh Monarch laying eggs on my milkweeds, and with the temperature recorded at 24 degrees it seemed to suit her nicely. However the caterpillars will not get far in their development before the coming cold spells will put a halt to it all. Which made me ponder that it is more likely that colder temperatures are more of a trigger to diapause than lessening daylight hours.
A short time later I noticed a Red Admiral cruising around my shade house, probably attracted by the nettles in there, so a hasty trip to the garage to grab my ever ready net resulted in its capture and release into the butterfly house. It proved to be a fresh female so given a day or two to settle down I am hopeful of some eggs, but in the unlikely event it has not yet mated there is a male Red Admiral ready and waiting in the there anyway.
The Admiral larvae will develop quite well leading up to winter as they can withstand cold temperatures in larval and pupal stages, although the interior of the butterfly house can reach 30 degrees on a sunny day in winter, and the Yellow Admirals breed throughout the year quite happily in the enclosure.
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