Let Me Tell You About Monarchs Mating

What looked like a small bird or a Hawk Moth crossed our path as we headed down the driveway to the beach. Through my binoculars I could see they were two Monarch butterflies, the male flying the female who was upside down and attached to him, through the air in some prenuptial ballet. She just hung there, not fluttering, letting him choreograph the route. They landed on one of the large multiflora rose bushes in the same position, giving me a close up through the glasses of their behavior. They did not move and it became clear they were copulating, his sperm moving into her bursa copulatrix. I left them alone and continued with Romeo to the beach. When I returned fifteen minutes later they were in the same position, the afternoon sun low in the sky lighting the exquisite orange and black of their wings, white spots edging it all.

I turned toward my butterfly garden, only a year old, and now with even more milkweed plants, Joe Pye weed, and butterfly bushes to attract pollinators. In just moments the pair separated and the female flew directly into a patch of seaweed mulch between two small milkweed plants. She rested there for many minutes. I was pretty sure she was laying her eggs, which they do on milkweed so the caterpillars can emerge from their shells, and have their meal of choice.

These were the first visitors to my Butterfly garden, fulfilling the dream I had when I put it in during the Covid year. Life! Beauty!