10/19/2026
Viceroy butterfly hanging in the garden. These little mullerian mimics don’t migrate like their similar looking Monarch counterparts. They overwinter as immature caterpillars in a shelter made from a rolled leaf (hibernaculum) and enter a state of dormancy freezing their metabolism. The Viceroy feeds on willow, poplar, and cottonwood which allows them to store salicylic acid in their bodies, making them very bitter tasting for birds and causing some upset tummies.
Monarchs-which this guy is not, take a massive migration journey to Mexico every winter where they stay for 4-5 months before returning. How? In late summer every year a generation of monarchs emerge in a state called reproductive Diapause. Instead of mating, they just become ravenously hungry and eat as much nectar as they can. These sugars are converted into fat reserves stored in their abdomen that give them energy for migration and no eating for up to 5 months. Monarchs feed exclusively on Milkweed which makes it such an important plant to have in your gardens. Monarchs actually store cardiac glycosides from eating toxic milkweed that makes them highly poisonous causing birds and other predators digestive issues.
2 very different butterflies who look almost the same!
Lesson of the day: don’t eat butterflies
