Comments on: Monarch Population Status

By: Sheryl

Sheryl — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:00:27 +0000

I have planted in my gardens lantana, butterfly bush and two kinds of milkweed. I also have hummer feeders, which the Monarchs partake in, as well.
I counted eleven caterpillars, maybe twelve. Of those, five were found in chrysalis formation (three still on the milkweed). Two that attached in a different location have “hatched”: one has left, and the other is still hanging around. It broke out early this morning, and it is now after nine (PM). The others are darkening, so I suspect we will have full blown Monarchs tomorrow.
I live in east central Kansas. The weather two days ago was warm (when Monarch #1 left), today cool, windy and rainy. That may have some impact on the fact Monarch #2 hasn’t done much. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the sixties and overcast, the following days warm again. Hopefully all five and other six will be winging their way south and arrive safely.

By: Mrs. Palermo

Mrs. Palermo — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:01:09 +0000

I am an elementary school teacher in northern Vermont and am very concerned about the severe lack of monarchs this summer. Two years ago one student brought in over 60 caterpillars from one night of hunting. This year I have not found one. In school I am known for my love of butterflies and I have asked all students to look for me. Noone has found any. Reading about all the weather, and man-made situations (poisons and traffic by trucking) makes us very sad. Monarchs are one of the number one life cycles most recognized by my students. What shall we do? I encourage students to let milkweed grow around their homes. But this time of year the local farmers are haying and fields have been cut. However, many people have come back and said that there been an increase in slug activity on the milkweed plants. Just wanted to know others thoughts.

By: Johanna Vienneau

Johanna Vienneau — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:18:15 +0000

I have enjoyed tagging for several years in New Hampshire. This past year seemed a bit unusual to me in the following way: even though I found huge numbers of caterpillars and brought many into my classroom to raise, it was harder to find adult butterflies to tag. I visited several prime clover-filled fields, where in the past I could catch and tag butterflies until I grew tired. But ot this past fall, the butterflies were rare. I gentleman I met just the other day, that lives near a milkweed field, said it was a poor year. I assume he meant he did not see many adults. In my classroom, more larvae than usual died from tachinid [fly] parasitism. Last year the fields were crowded with larvae, like this year, and I think the parasite population is building also. But the other unusual thing for me is some of the adults that hatched in my classroom were weak and one even died before we released it. We sometimes keep adults for a few days but always enjoy feeding them apple juice. I recall one adult that hatched in the afternoon,so could not be released until the next day. But in the morning it was dead. I understand that there is a very contagious disease that can survive on cages. But not seeing as many wild adults points towards an bigger problem.

By: Dennis Seevers

Dennis Seevers — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:34:22 +0000

I just discovered this website and this topic covers a concern on mine in regards to the monarch’s status. Over the last 2 years I was an over the road truck driver and as some of you may know, the truck traffic in NA has increased incrementally over the past 10-15 years, killing hundreds of thousands on migrating monarchs. It is of my opinion, that this accumulative negative affect on the migrating population along with the Genetically Modified crop seed being planted, which affects the milkweed,
may be too overwhelming for them to continue. The species demise is then noticablly reduced when a significant weather system affects the remaining seasonal migrates.
My question is in regards to the over-wintering population data. How many years has this been taking and how accurate is it? Is there enough to find a similar instance in the past where a cold system may have effected the migrates in the southern plains as it did last year? If so, a rebound in population could be expected if this is the key factor to the low monarch survey. This years survey should give us some important answers. Thank you.

By: janet miault

janet miault — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:12:52 +0000

Hi, You are so very right about the weather and the decline in the migration last summer(2008).I live in Thunder Bay, On.Can. and I did not get one Monarch in my garden last summer. Don’t think I wasn’t watching and waiting. I checked my milkweed daily for signs of life. In 2007 I raised in my greenhouse over 80 monarchs of which 50 were released. I lost the others to lack of food I think, they did not fully develop and dropped off from their pupae stage. I ordered tags that year but they came way too late in the season for us in Thunder Bay to tag them. I must of kept and fed them for a good 2wks in the greenhouse before I just had to released them. Our season is short and by the time the tags get mailed to us here, the monarchs are long gone. I think if you want tagging to be done north of the border the tags will have to be sent to us much earlier, at least a month. I would like to hear from others about this. I tried my best to mark the monarchs I raised and released with a black marker, an X on the rt. wing. So if any one happened to find one with this marking, it was born in Thunder Bay On. Can. 2007.
In the summer of 2007 I lived and breathed Monarchs from sun up to sun down, counting and dating all movements. Thanks for keeping us all informed and up to date on our little friends. Looking forward to seeing the results on 2008 migration.