ROBIN ATE A Monarch

[Jeanine L. Shaffer]

I've released about 100 Monarchs in the last 2 weeks. Yesterday I released 8. I usually put them on some Lantana blossums or Pentas. Six flew off right away but 2 remained on the Lantana Blossums. I watched them for a while then went in the house thinking they would be all right since everything I have read says birds don't bother them since they are so poisenous. When I passed my picture window I glanced out and saw a Robin take a Monarch and flew off. I ran out to find her and by the time I found her she had the Monarch abouot eaten. Very sad. The other Monarch was still on the Lantana and all of a sudden that Robin came back but I was able to chase her away. I then made the Monarch fly off hoping the Robin wouldn't chase it--it didn't but came back again looking for more Monarchs.
Can someone give me some information about this as I thought they were safe from birds?

Jeanine Shaffer Monarch Way Station 381

[Teresa]

Birds will eat them but only once I'm sure it got sick soon afterwards.

[James Price]

I suspect that Teresa is right and the robin will be sorry. But apparently, some birds can and do eat monarchs without any ill effects. I've read that broad-winged hawks will congregate along monarch migrating routes just to feast on them. Bluejays, on the other hand, are sickened almost instantly and learn never to try them again. I don't know about robins.

We have been led to believe that monarchs are so toxic that nothing will eat them, but they actually have many predators at every stage of life. I was hiking through a nature preserve last year and came upon a burrow of some kind of critter, and there were the remains -- wings, that is -- of scores of monarchs just outside it. The ground was littered with them. It was kind of shocking, but hey, that's nature.