MaineNatureDiary

Milkweed Patch: What better activity to persue on a Friday 13th than to visit our favorite milkweed patch in the woods! We were hoping to see some monarch butterflies, but they were not in evidence at this time. We did see some stunning Great Spangled Fritillary in all their orange glory, and some gorgeous Red Admiral butterflies instead. And, the place was absolutely buzzing with honeybees, bumblebees, and green metallic bees amidst the milkweed, black-eyed susans, roses, and grasses.

Milkweed Patch Bees: What we found fascinating was the difference between the pollen collection methods of the bumblebees versus the other bees. The bumblebees had very neat pollen baskets into which they stored the collected pollen. In order to make the pollen stay in the basket, they moisten it with a bit of nectar. If you’d like more information, go to bumblebee.org for great structural drawings and photos.

The honeybees and metallic bees had pollen stuck to their undersides and all over their legs. Even though they also have pollen baskets, they seem to wait for a longer period of time before depositing it into the baskets.

Milkweed Patch Butterflies: The Great Spangled Fritillary seemed to be favoring the milkweed flowers in the meadow, although there were many other flowers to choose from. We are going to have to look around the meadow for violets, as those are the host (food) plants for the caterpillars which feed at night. Unfortunately, the caterpillars hide during the day away from their food source. So…I think we are going to have a difficult time finding this caterpillar for photo purposes. The Red Admiral was also favoring the milkweed flowers for nectar. The host plants for the Red Admiral caterpillar are nettles which we hope to find in the meadow. As there are 2 generations per year, we are sure to find these caterpillars for our photography purposes. At any rate, we are going to have to search for eggs on the plants soon.