Monarchs

[Ginny42]

I haven't seen a monarch butterfly all summer long. In the past two days, I've seen a ton. Is this a normal migration pattern for them? Anyone know?

[SilenceOfTheClams]

Ginny... I've seen quite a few thruout the last couple of months here, and was talking to my sister who "collects" the caterpillars, moves them to optimum "digs" where they munch up the milkweed leaves and create the chrysali...
She stated just two weeks ago that they're about "done" with their transformations for the year and soon would be heading towards Mexico. So... I'm thinking... YUP... migration is about to begin if it hasn't already up there by you! :D Hopefully they have good jet streams to "ride" down there. Aren't they just amazing? :wub: :wub:

[digiflower]

they got some cool info about these butterflys. :rolleyes:

Fall Migration

Monarchs in the fall begin clustering together.
When the late summer and early fall monarchs emerge from their pupae, they are physically and behaviorally different from those emerging in the summer. The shorter days, cooler air, and milkweed senescence (aging) of late summer trigger changes. In the northern part of their range, this occurs around the end of August, when monarchs begin to emerge in reproductive diapause.

Diapause is controlled by the nervous system and by hormones. Environmental factors signaling the onset of unfavorable conditions are involved in triggering this physiological response. These factors include day length, temperature, and hostplant quality.

OH and did you KNOW?
What We Can Do
To offset the loss of milkweeds and nectar sources due to development, use of herbicides, and roadside management practices, we need to create, conserve, and protect milkweed/monarch habitats. Monarchs need resource patches - lots of them - and our goal over the next three years is the creation of at least 10,000 of these patches, which we are calling ?Monarch Waystations?. We need you to help us and help monarchs by creating Monarch Waystations in home gardens, schools, parks, zoos, nature centers, field margins, along roadsides, and on other unused plots of land. This effort won?t replace the amount of milkweed that has been lost or even keep pace with the habitat losses each year; however, without a major effort to restore milkweeds to as many locations as possible, the monarch population is certain to decline to extremely low levels.

Creating a Monarch Waystation!!!!

MILKWEEDS (monarch host and nectar plants)

(1) BUTTERFLY WEED (Asclepias tuberosa)
(2) SHOWY MILKWEED (Asclepias speciosa)
(3) COMMON MILKWEED (Asclepias syriaca)
(4) SWAMP MILKWEED (Asclepias incarnata subsp. incarnata)
(5) SWAMP MILKWEED (Asclepias incarnata subsp. pulchra)
(6) TROPICAL MILKWEED (Asclepias curassavica)

General Nectar Plants
(7) PRAIRIE BLAZINGSTAR (Liatris pycnostachya)
(8) FLOSS FLOWER, Blue Horizon (Ageratum houstonianum)
(9) PURPLE CONEFLOWER (Echinacea purpurea)
(10) TITHONIA TORCH, Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia)
(11) ZINNIA, Super Giant Mixed (Zinnia)
(12) VERBENA (Verbena bonairiensis)


So to much information? :unsure: :lol:

[MrSeedy]

I often get the impression that just one lone forested section in Mexico is their lone wintering ground in the whole world and once that's gone, the monarchs are gone forever, since I don't think they winter over as eggs in their northern range from one year to the next, and it's the old ones returning north each year that keeps the populations going. The problem is that though that area is now protected to a degree by the Mexican government, and subsidies are paid to the local people to "not" harvest the local trees, there still is illegal lumbering being done there every year , and the forest is still shrinking there. Given just one major tree disease or a major climatic disaster , they might disappear almost overnight!!
It's easy to say that the very poor locals there shouldn't do any logging , but they depend on the woods for fuel and building, and have few sources of income. I guess logging was forbidden , but with no compensation from the Mexican government, so they must depend on tourism and visitors , who come to see the millions of butterflies, but that's only five months a year, and the rest of the year there is little income. Oh well we may keep them going in the northern parts of their range , but they still depend on their Mexican wintering grounds to survive. I did error in the earlier statement about the compensation, but the butterflies are part of a long tradition there, so there may be enough locals who really appreaciate them, and who will preserve them.