TRR photo by Ed Wesely A milkweed longhorn beetle on October 13. This one is a half-inch long. (Click for larger image)

During cold months, the Delaware River was the focus of this column, from ice fishing to April’s shad runs. But with summer, it seemed appropriate to include contiguous fields and forests—a practice that will continue, and which prompted a more inclusive graphic.

Homebodies. Around here, milkweed longhorn beetles are creatures of mid-summer, whose entire life cycle is spent in and on milkweed plants. I rarely see them later than mid-September, so I was surprised to discover one in the Damascus Town Forest on October 13. It was clinging to a faded milkweed plant, awaiting the scythe of a killing frost.

But long before, this female’s eggs had been deposited on milkweed stems near the ground and its larvae had bored into hollow interiors, then downward into root systems (generally below the frost line) where they will pass the winter.

The monarch migration. Many thanks to readers who have submitted migration observations. The peak arrived in late September, with no monarchs spotted after October 20. Observations are posted on our Butterfly Barn website at butterflybarn.org.