Comments on: Where are the monarchs??

By: deb

deb — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:41:06 +0000

Same thing this year. 2011. I’ve been searching my milkweeds for catapillars and haven’t found one yet. July 13. Where are they????

By: delphine

delphine — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:18:56 +0000

I was walking my daughters dog in downtown Saranac Lake, NY when I spotted a beautiful very large Monarch Butterfly. I was curious because i saw a circle sticker on its wing. I was able to get very close and read the phone number and the web site. It also had the number MLB048. SO if anyone is tracking this butterfly, that where i spotted him this morning.

By: Cindy Masiejczyk

Cindy Masiejczyk — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 16:12:22 +0000

Last week I counter over 20 Praying Mantis Egg cases in a meadow that was planted in the Pennypack Park, part of Farimount Park in Philadelphia, Pa. Is anyone doing serious reseach in the growth of the large Chinese Praying Mantis and their impact on Monarchs, bumble bees, tree frogs, humming birds, spiders. I just read that the Mantis eats all of them, but I don’t know if the articles I read from the Google Internet meant the Chinese Mantis. On a visit to Cape May several years ago, I did see a Mantis with a Monarch meal, and several other Monarch wings on the sand below. Every summer I have come across several of the large mantis in the meadows of the park. This year I did not see even one Garden Spider, the large yellow ones in the meadow, and only a few Monarchs among the Meadow plants.

By: Yvonne Coil

Yvonne Coil — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:47:47 +0000

Tell Beth Niblack-Sykes that if she has any
Praying Mantis.
That is the culpert who is eating the eggs of Monarch.
I have to keep my Monarch eggs gathered because of the Praying Mantis.
I’ve released 80 some each year for the past 4 years.I have probably 75 to 80 milkweed in my flower garden.
I’m looking for different kinds of milkweed seed.
I’ve ordered several butterfly bushes and the Monarchs really love them.

By: Suzanne Strider

Suzanne Strider — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:33:10 +0000

I live in Durham, North Carolina and have noticed very, very few monarchs this season. My last few caterpillars have died (maybe due to the colder temperatures but seems like a lack of interest in eating). I saw exactly one female laying eggs the whole season. If the rest of these hatch and are viable, I will have only raised about 90 butterflies this season and have tagged only 7 in the wild! I saw a wasp eating at least two of the cats and I have many more of those little red bugs on my milkweed this season also. The eggs that were laid were laid very late in the season. In the past 6 or 7 years, all my butterflies would have long since hatched and moved on by this date.

By: Barbara Meitner

Barbara Meitner — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 22:00:24 +0000

I live West of Panama City beach. about 1/4 of a mile from the beach. We have lived here six years and have alway had Monarchs. This is the first year we have not seen even one anywhere around here. We’ve only seen two honey bees, too. I have a lot of milkweed and flowering plants. Most for butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. We have a lot of hummers this year. I had to put out twelve feed for them. I’ve read that geneticly modified corn creates it’s own pesticide in the pollen and it’s widely broadcast by the wind. Could this be killing the butterflies and bees?

By: Beth Niblack-Sykes

Beth Niblack-Sykes — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:53:39 +0000

Have had a habitat & been raising Monarch cats for about 10 years now. We had a slow start here in Madison WI but the egg laying picked up so that I had more eggs than I could raise. The eggs I left behind were predated- emptied out so only egg husks remained. I never saw any evidence of any “wild cats” making it on my milkweed. Only the ones reared indoors (about 60 in all)made it to adulthood. What predator robs the eggs? It seemed most significant this year above any of the previous years.

By: Kathy Panetta

Kathy Panetta — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 02:49:16 +0000

I live in Ledgewood, in northern, NJ., and have also noticed very few butterflies in general this year, (except for the Cabbage Butterfly). Thank goodness the Monarchs that have been here were busy laying eggs in my milkweed garden. I gather them and raise the cats inside due to the predatation in my garden, and was coming in with many eggs each day between the the beginning and middle of August this year, (later then last year). Have tagged and released about 40 so far, but am holding about 25 until tomorrow when tropical storm Hanna clears out. Hope the ones I let go yesterday are O.K. Have about 10 more butterflies that will be emerging tomorrow morning, and some more chrysalis’s that will mature. Had so many cats pupaeting I ran out of room in the habitat I built, and resorted to using some plastic “critter keepers” I got at the pet store and put a screened top on my old aquarium for more. Still needed more room so I found a wire and net, 3 story toy storage unit at the dollar store that is hung, that I converted to a caterpillar condo. Will be releasing close to 150 this season. Am worried that this active hurricane season doesn’t dessimate their migration to Mexico.

By: Elizabeth Heberer

Elizabeth Heberer — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:09:49 +0000

I am so happy, I have found some monarchs on my plant, the one is in his chyslis and the other is eating like a pig, so it wont belong. god bless the butterflies

By: Kathy Munger

Kathy Munger — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:54:33 +0000

I am so sad about the low number of larvae to be found this year in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, Rockford, specifically. Each year I tag butterflies with my students at Meadow Ridge Elementary. Our mascot is the Monarch Butterfly. I have only two this year. Seems to be the case most places.

By: Mike Sproule

Mike Sproule — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:38:38 +0000

I am in Niagara Falls, no sign of any caterpillars on the Labour Day weekend as there was in the past few years, any idea’s, are we just early or?

By: elaine friedrick

elaine friedrick — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:55:08 +0000

8/31/08 9/01/08 appt 50-100 monarch butterflies roosted in the Paper Birch Trees in our back year…near GB WI