MONARCH BUTTERFLY DEPOSITING EGGS

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Yesterday (4/4/09) I was weedeating and saw this Monarch laying eggs on the new growth of a Milkweed plant.  This is by far the earliest I've seen Monarchs in our yard - the Milkweed is barely out of the ground so there won't be nearly enough food for the caterpillars once all these eggs hatch.  We'll have to find a local nursery selling Milkweed that hasn't been treated with chemicals.  Milkweed is the only plant Monarchs will lay their eggs on and the only plant the caterpillars will eat (their host plant).  Adult Monarchs, however, will eat nectar from all kinds of plants.  Milkweed contains a toxin that's poisonous to many of the Monarch's predators.  By eating the plant, the caterpillars (and the adult butterflies they grow into) become toxic to those predators (which the predators don't know until they try eating one).  The caterpillars are still preyed on by insects like wasps and stink bugs.  This butterfly deposited eggs over the span of a few hours.