Previous Sightings - 2004 to mid-2008

[Jim]

Previous Sightings - 2004 to mid-2008

[Hummy]

I'm very disappointed to report that so far this year, here in Haliburton, Ontario (Latitude 45.03 Longitude -78.31), I have not seen a single monarch butterfly. Even a search of my local milkweed plants showed no signs of caterpillars.

I did see one very faided female in Bracebridge, Ont, which is about an hour's drive east of us but no evidence of caterpillars on the milkweed plants close-by.

Hummy

[ldoptera]

Two Monarchs have been in our area just north of Point Pelee since Jul 18, 2004. Three larvae found in 3rd to 4th instar. One was eating flower buds from the milkweed, and not the leaves.

ldoptera

[ldoptera]

After posting yesterday morning, a freshly emerged male visited in the garden for the afternoon. He was very dark and not interested in nectar. But, he sure checked out the milkweed, swamp milkweed and joe-pye-weed. Looking for a female most likely.

[Lynne Fielder]

July 29, 2004

I'm pleased to report the following sightings this afternoon at Lemoine's Point Conservation Area in Kingston, Ontario, Canada (located on Lake Ontario).

7 adult butterflies (not sure of the sex)
2 of the 7 were mating
2 of the 7 were laying eggs (these, I'm sure of the sex)
6 eggs, (1 of which I am planning on rearing)
1 5th instar very fat and healthy caterpillar!


One monarch was also observed feeding on a school yard butterfly garden in Kingston.

That's eigth in total.

The mornng was hazy and mild, but by the afternoon, the sun was out and the temperature was about 80 F.

These sighting were conducted by a group of Cdn and US teachers (one of which I was) currently taking the Monarchs in the Classroom MonarchWatch workshop here in Kingston.

Lynne Fielder

[Lynne Fielder]

Hi Everybody,

In my local meadow, I saw one monarch yesterday (Aug 3) in Kingston, Ontario. I couldn't get close enough to determine the sex. I didn't find any eggs.

I'm planning on visiting Lemoines Point this afternoon (if the sun comes out) to try to collect some more eggs and place an updated count here.

The egg I collected last week hatched and is still in it's first instar.

Lynne Fielder

[Lynne Fielder]

The sun never came out yesterday afternoon which may explain why I didn't spot any monarchs at Lemoine's Point. I did howerer find a 5th instar caterpiller who ate up a storm last night and today and is currently in a J-formation.

I still have the other caterpillar that I raised from an egg. It's in its first instar still but looks very healthy.

Lynne

[Lynne Fielder]

Hi everybody,

Here are my most recent sightings. All of these sighting were observed in Brighton, Ontario, on Lake Ontario. Brighton is about 1.5 hours east of Toronto.

Aug 7 & 8, 2004:

1 monarch butterfly
1 2nd instar larva; missing half of a back filament
11 1st insta larva
eggs were everywhere.

I counted 32 eggs on a small section of the shore but then found more elsewhere (on the side of a dirt road). I'm sure that if I kept counting and walking down the shore, I would have counted more. Nearly every plant had eggs. Many milkweed plants had snails on them. Some of the snails were near the top of a 4 foot plant. I was surprised to see so many snails on the milkweed. Has anyone else noticed snails on milkweed?

Some of the milkweed where I found the eggs was lush while in a few cases the milkweed was pathethic, almost dead and approx. 10cm in height.

On a solo leaf I found one larva that just hatched and 2 other eggs. I had to take a second look but they've all since hatched into healthy caterpillars. 3 on one leaf!

It's nice to see so many eggs and caterpillars.

Lynne

Jim: should I post my sighting here and on d-plex? It seems like many people are still using the d-plex format.

[ldoptera]

After the coldest summer on record, temperatures are climbing and Monarchs are starting to appear. Marshy areas near Point Pelee have about 25 to 30 Monarchs each, still mating. Larva present on milkweed -3rd to 4th instar. Females are looking for young shoots of milkweed to lay eggs. My records indicate they are about 25 days behind schedule.

These late dates are consistent with delayed 2nd brood of Swallowtails also.

Cheers,
ldoptera

[sorensene]

This year I planted a butterly bush in my garden and have seen lots of cabbage white and one (or maybe 3 ) monarchs. On August 21st, 22nd and 24th I saw a monarch feeding at the flowers. It may be the same one, so on August 24th I caught it and tagged it. Since then, I have not seen any monarchs. It was a male and had good wing condition.

[ldoptera]

Monarchs are still mating and laying eggs in Essex County. Plenty of larvae on young milkweed plants and swamp milkweed in wet areas.

See photos at http://community.webshots.com/user/ldoptera

Cheers,

ldoptera

[A.Range]

I have been tagging butterflies in the classroom for four years. We are noticing a huge decline in butterflies and caterpillars in our area. I have 150 students out looking and scouring the milkweed (of which there is plenty) but have only had three caterpillars brought in. There seem to be so few adults in the area. In other years... I will easily have students bring in the 25 we need to tag. The students and I are speculating that it has something to do with the weather. We will monitor the three, now chrysalis, that we have, closely.

[dannus plex]

I live just north of Lake Erie and tag at Hawks Cliff near Port Stanley. It is right along the Monarch and hawk migration route. I have been tagging for six years. The latest recorded message at Point Pelee National Park states that the migration here will not peak until after Sept 29 due to the extremely mild weather. I have tagged 45 so far and have sighted about 350 over 26 hours of field work.

[rburke]

An Hour North of us there was Frost Last week around Toronto & below Buffalo to the south of us. SO, I was surprised to see the Monarch today, and the red Admiral last week.

Butterfly (MONARCH IN BOLD, for Monarch Watch)
& Bird, Sightings (for Canadian Wildlife Federation-I have Habitat Certification )
from Oct 13th 2004 back to Aug. 29/04
in Niagara Falls, Ont. Canada. ( I have not included my Name & address because of the posting to the forum.)

All sighting were in my front, back & boulevard gardens the #1 favourite bush of the Butterflies is the Lilac coloured Butterfly bush, then the white one. So, I will not repeat when they were frequently on these, just the other plants & only once for each.

Oct. 13/2004 MONARCH 2:30PM
Oct. 8th Red Admiral 5:30pm
10/3 MONARCH 12:30pm

Sept. 28th MONARCH 8:55am
9/27 MONARCH 12:50pm, 12:30pm, 9:45am
9/26 MONARCH Sun. 5:45pm
9/25 MONARCH 10:40am
9/24 MONARCH 6:30pm
9/15 “
9/14 Two MONARCH’s
9/13 MONARCH
9/12 “ 2pm
9/11 Two MONARCH’S @ the same time 3:30pm, 1 was on COSMOS
& 1 in the evening
9/10 Fri. THREE MONARCH’S @ the same time CLOSE to each other 9:45am after a 5 inch rain
on Thurs.
9/7 3:05pm still Monarch – overcast after Rain
9/5 Sun. MONARCH 10:20am & ALL Day even 7:15pm & on Purple top Brazilian Verbena
9/4 Sat. AM. & PM.
9/3 Fri. THREE MONARCH’S & a Red Admiral @ the same time
also on Cut leaf Rudbeckia
9/1 Wed. THREE MONARCH’S @ 1pm. same bush. Also 9:37am

Aug 31 MONARCH Tues. 3:15pm on the Black Knight Butterfly bush.
Also 10:37am & 10am a Hummingbird, no feeders JUST FLOWERS.
8AM. BIG commotion in the back yard at the bird feeder, then sighted a
“Sharp shinned HAWK” resting on the fence, with the 3 bands quite visible on his tail. We are a short distance from the Hydro Canal with it’s wildlife corridor, to the Niagara river.
Aug 29 3:52pm 3:27, 3:20, 2:58, Two MONARCH’s 2:10, 1:56, 1:50, feeding it seems all day. 1
MONARCH resting on Cedar, 1;35, 1:20, 1:12, 12:40pm. 11:12 Two MONARCH’s 10:48, 10:23am
Aug 29 Sun. 2:00pm American Goldfinch feeding on Evening Primrose seeds 1 Female 2males
Robin, Blackbird, Grackle, Starlings, Mourning Dove, Cardinal, Sparrows, Baby finch, Pinesiskin
All in the front yard at the same time it was all feeding, with no feeder. On Liatrus, batchelor’s buttons, in the cup of the leaf of the butterfly bush, water or earwigs, I don’t know.
An unfamiliar Brown bird – speckled under & bk. Bigger 10” on the ground. 2:58 goldfinch feeding on Cutleaf Rudbeckia-yellow coneflower, 4:05 five of them 1 cosmos, delphinium, & a try on Culver’s root. 4:10 – 4:15 1st hummingbird feeding on B. bush & resting over Nepeta.
A great number of goldfinch this year. Feeding 1st on cosmos, mountain bluet, nicotania, echinachea & black eyed Susan’s & rough blazing star. Loretta

[dannus plex]

I call for the recorded message from Point Pelee National Park every day for the last three weeks. Park naturalists seem to be waiting for a massing of Monarchs at the tip of the park. I don't think it is going to happen. I visited the park on at 8:00 a.m. on the morning of October 5 and was shuttled to the "tip" of mainland Canada. Any further and your feet get wet, with Lake Erie being in the way. I counted 12 Monarchs over 1 1/2 hours. Managed only 1 photo of the "massing" with 3 in the viewfinder. The park offical I spoke with seemed unaware of the drop in the returning spring migration. I managed to tag 99 this year with the bulk being tagged during the last week in Sept.

[dannus plex]

Today I saw a Monarch, actually it flew out of one of my wife's flowers as I was cutting the lawn for the last time. I live in London, Ontario, Lat 42.983, Long -81.250. I have never seen a Monarch, let alone any butterfly, this late in the year. I find this more remarkable with the population of Monarchs being what it is this year. Just thought I would pass this on.

[John Beaulieu]

No Monarchs have been seen here in Midhurst yet , but my wife, Brenda, saw four this past weekend while visiting in Oshawa.

[John Beaulieu]

Monarchs are now around Simcoe County, having being seen in our yard (Midhurst), just outside of Barrie, and at the Copeland Forest (20 minutes NE of Midhurst) where there is a huge meadow of common milkweed as well as swamp milkweed around the pond area. I have a few photos at
http://photobucket.com/albums/a240/JohnBeaulieu/

[John Beaulieu]

The Monarchs are now seen across central Ontario. They have been in our yard and along all the roads we have travelled this past week. We have had visitors from France that we have been taking on daytrips. I think they feel that we are a little obsessed, pointing out butterflies and stopping at roadside stands of milkweed... looking under the leaves! The first milkweed that Brenda spotted at the Big Chute Marine Railway (near Coldwater) produced a small caterpillar, which has just J-hooked in one of her cages. A single roadside milkweed up the Bruce Penninsula produced 5 eggs which sould soon hatch. This seems to be a good year for (common) milkweed plants, they are large and healthy. We have also seen a lot of swamp milkweed on beaver dams and the shore line of ponds. Monarchs have been seen feeding on the swamp milkweed, but as yet we have never seen any eggs or caterpillars on them.
During a visit to a garden center (Greenway) that specializes in butterfly plants, has a display butterfly garden as well as a building dedicated to butterfly information, we learned that it has been a bountiful year in their area too (Kitchener/Waterloo). They had a lot of tropical milkweed in the display gardens and said that it is a favourite for egg laying because the leaves are more tender than the common milkweed. They also said that the orange butterfly milkweed (A. tuberosa) is not a first choice for eggs because the leaves are tougher. They are all popular as a food source. If anyone is travelling through the K-W area, Greenway is worth a stop. They are just off of highway 7 between Guelph and K-W on Shantz Road. For more information, google Greenway Naturium.

[dannus plex]

Here in London, southwestern Ontario, my son pointed out our first sighting on one of my wife's plants. We haven't inspected any local milkweed for cats yet.

[jiHymas]

Reprinted from posting to eMail list

Saw my first Monarch of the summer this afternoon in my back yard - on Humbercrest Blvd. in the area bounded by Jane-Dundas-Bloor-Humber River. My rule of thumb for a first sighting is August 1 - I'm not sure why they should be so much later in this area than in the Don Valley and Scarborough, perhaps they stay in the Humber Valley or get sidetracked by the 'Butterfly Sanctuary' at the mouth of the Humber.

My neighbor has a meadowy back yard of wildflowers, which helps attract them, together with about 12 A. Syriaca. I have one A. Syriaca in its second year, 6 in their first year, and perhaps 6 A. Tuberosa grown from seed in their first year (or, at least, I'm pretty sure they're A. Tuberosa!). Both of my B. Davidii died over the winter, so my garden is much less welcoming than normal, but I planted about 20 coneflowers of different types, 4 pots of Joe Pye Weed and some Verbena in June, so perhaps next summer will be better. Plans for next year include wisteria on my arbour, since my climbing roses die back every single year and my dreams of magnificent walls of roses are frustrated.

If I should be planting anything more in my back yard (very sunny) or my front yard (mostly shady, with a mature maple tree), I welcome all suggestions! Although Toronto is supposed to be climate zone 5, everything I ever plant that's supposed to be hardy to zone 5 dies, so I want hardiness to zone 4. I don't want anything that needs to be fussed over - that's not only too much like hard work, but it's cheating, which is convenient for lazy me.

It seems to me that milkweed doesn't bloom in its first year. Is this normal, or could I simply be mistaken? I haven't seen anything that looks
remotely like an egg on my milkweed yet, but I retain hopes.

[John Beaulieu]

Jim

I too have been frustrated by zone claims and have had no luck with 'Butterfly Bush'. I have had good luck with a few different milkweeds though. The various clones of Swamp Milkweed (A. incarnata) and Butterfly Weed (A. tuberosa) have been very hardy (after all, they are native). The swamp milkweed has attracted a lot of butterflies. As well as monarchs, we have had 3 different swallowtails in the yard this week.

I do believe you are right about not flowering the first year. I have seedlings of A. tuberosa (yellow), wild A. incarnata, and A. syriaca which all do not appear to be in the blooming mode. All are also smaller than my mature plants from last year's planting. I have noticed that the monarchs will lay eggs on the new tender seedlings... easy munching for the caterpillars.

[joepyeweed]

In 1994, I was on the Toronto Islands the first weekend of September and the migration was underway--I saw a tree completely covered with Monarchs. I'm going to be in Toronto Sept. 11-14 this year and wondered if I have any chance of such a wonderful sight again.

[pixy242]

Just saw a female monarch today. my daughter also saw one a couple of days ago. no sign of eggs on the milkweed. it was on the butterfly bush.

can anyone tell me how long they continue to lay eggs in this area ?

tks

pixy

[dannus plex]

I live just north of Lake Erie. It was again a dismal summer of Monarch sightings. Today along a stretch of beach, I noticed at least 20 Monarch in flight, most moving SW, in just over an hour. This was about the same number I saw all summer.

[John Beaulieu]

We contiue to see the odd monarch in our yard and on a trip to the Huron shore a few days ago we saw around a dozen. We keep finding caterpillars but have not found any eggs since returning from the Monarch Teacher Network workshop in New Jersey on Aug. 27th. We keep a close eye on our milkweeds in the garden, as they had been a good source of eggs all summer. It seems like monarch sex is over and they all now have travel on their minds. Gotta go, Gotta go, Gotta go to Mexico! Overall this has been our best year ever for spotting monarchs in central Ontario. Of course Brenda keeps hoping to find an egg for her class to see... three days left to find one!

John

[Paul Cherubini]

On April 29 Alan Wormington sent me the following email about sightings of worn monarchs at Point Pelee, Ontario during the last week of April:

Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2006 19:11:29 -0400
From: wormington@juno.com

Paul,

You might be interested to know that here at Point Pelee on Lake Erie (Ontario), we have seen several Monarchs this past week, all of which have been very worn. This is typical condition of any that we ever see here during the period of late April to mid May; such individuals are sometimes seen into late May and early June. One very worn female today was egg-laying on the first shoots of Common Milkweed, barely sticking one inch out of the ground. Today's egg-laying is certainly early for this area, since most years we don't even see our first Monarch until maybe May 8-12 on average.

Cheers,

Alan

[John Beaulieu]

Good to know that they are getting close. The first butterfly in our yard this spring was a Comma, on April 11th. We saw lots of Mourning cloaks at Mountsberg Conservation Area (near Milton) on April 15th. There are now several Cabbage Whites in our yard every day. Milkweed in our area is just starting to sprout. I noticed my swamp milkweed has half inch sprouts. I don't recall ever seeing a Monarch before the milkweed was up.

John

[John Beaulieu]

On May 27, the first monarch of the year was spotted in our yard (Midhurst, 55 miles north of Toronto). It was flying high, on a mission heading north. In an e-mail, Donald Davies also reported on these other Ontario sightings for May 27...

Harry Hewick who reports his sightings each year
reports seeing a monarch at Stoney Creek, Ontario, and
one individual and a pair at Waterdown, Ontario (at
the far east end of Lake Ontario not far from the City
of Hamilton.

Barry Harrison of Toronto reports seeing 4 monarchs
(two of which were in copula) at Sylvan Park on the
north shore of Lake Ontario in east Toronto not far
from the Scarborough Bluffs.

Rod and Joan Parrott of Port Hope, Ontario, noted
butterfly breeders, report finding 4 monarchs,
including a mating pair, just west of Port Hope on the
north shore of Lake Ontario, about 100 km east of
Toronto.

Glenn Richardson, president of the Toronto
Entomologists‚ Association, found three eggs today
near Listowel, Ontario (southwestern Ontario).

Peter Ferguson of Fonthill, Ontario, just west of
Niagara Falls, Ontario, and up on the Niagara
escarpment, reports seeing two monarchs.

The season begins!!!

John

[John Beaulieu]

I have seen reports that the monarchs have now reached Thunder Bay in northern Ontario and have also been reported in Winnipeg, Manitoba. On May 29th we travelled from the Barrie area to Guelph and saw several monarchs. We had another monarch in our Midhurst yard, pausing for a while on our lilacs. They are also reported to be in the Cambridge area.

In my garden, the various swamp milkweeds are up about 12 inches and the common milkweed is anywhere from 2 inches to 8 inches in height. I have new seedlings of other milkweeds such as Showy and Low now sprouting from seeds sown this spring. Others sown in peat pots indoors, including Tropical Milkweed, are now being conditioned for outdoors.

John

[John Beaulieu]

We continue to see monarchs passing through our yard, although the cooler temperatures lately seemed to have slowed them down. All seem to be in the travel mode, and none have hung around yet, despite having lots of food and host plants. On the past weekend, Brenda travelled to the Nature Reserves around the General Moters office in Oshawa, Ontario, on the shore of Lake Ontario. There she saw several monarchs and saw many, many eggs on the milkweeds. She brought home 6 eggs from roadside milkweeds to get us started this year.

John

[Debbie in Northwestern On]

"I am happy to report there have been extremely large numbers of Monarchs (and Swallowtails) present in the City of Thunder Bay and the surrounding forest this spring. I have seen Monarchs in my yard for about 3 weeks. I spotted eggs last week, and this week I can see tiny caterpillars! It has been an average of 3 degrees warmer than usual this spring in the Thunder Bay area. Unfortunately we had frost a few nights ago. I covered my milkweed plants and the caterpillars are fine. Since the cold nights there are noticibly fewer butterflies. "
Debbie
Monarch Waystation 444
Thunder Bay, ON

[Debbie in Northwestern On]

Yesterday I noticed a beautiful Monarch in my yard and more eggs....she even left some on the two and three inch common milkweed that are in pots that I had left outside of the greenhouse to harden off before planting out. Not to worry, I have a lot of tropical milkweed and swamp milkweed ready to bloom! Caterpillars are fine - I can see at least 10.
We normally don't have Monarchs this early. I understand there was a drought on their migration route that forced them northward sooner. Does this mean we can expect more than the one usual batch of Monarchs? In this area, they usually hatch at the end of August or early Sept. Can anyone tell me if these early ones will reproduce and their offspring return south, or will these be the ones to head south?

Debbie
Waystation 444
Northwestern Ontario

[John Beaulieu]

Monarch sighting is in high gear now, this last week of June. Although I have not seen them for a week (in my yard), I have been finding new eggs every day. I work overnight and sleep until at least 2:00 pm... the monarchs must visit the garden morning and early afternoon.

We were in Orillia, ON, today, enjoying the great bike path along the waterfront and through several park areas. It is mostly along an old railway line and those areas proved to be good sites for milkweed and monarchs. We saw many butterflies, gathered a few more eggs, and one really big caterpillar who must be ready to j-hook soon.

When we stop the bikes and start inspecting milkweeds, other bikers and hikers stop to ask what we are looking for and Brenda winds up giving these 'mini-lectures' about monarchs and their life cycle. Most of our neighbours too, are now letting the milkweed grow in their roadside ditches and are hooked on looking for eggs and caterpillars

We already had an other caterpillar of the same large size, which was found near our yard. We hope they may turn out to be opposite sexes. We have a screen house (tent-like) set up to try and breed a few monarchs.

John

[John Beaulieu]

OOPS.... Forgot I wanted to answer Debbie's question.

Monarchs seem to be programmed for sex or travel. These early ones will breed. They have the sex, but only live for about 4 to 6 weeks. Those that emerge in late summer get to travel to Mexico... and live longer. They will leave the Mexican wintering areas and perhaps get as far as the southern United States. Their children or grandchildren are the ones we will see arrive in Ontario.

John

[John Beaulieu]

On Sunday (June 25) we explored the trails at MacGregor Point Provincial Park, just a little south of Port Elgin on Lake Huron. It was a great butterfly day... plenty of monarchs and other butterflies to be seen (not to mention the great birding, including several Egrets).

There was both common and swamp milkweed in bloom. Along the Townline road at the southern boundary of the park, we found many eggs, and caterpillars of all sizes. The milkweed grows very large in the ditches around this stretch of road, as there is water flow from the Ducks Unlimited beaver pond and wetland project.

That evening they were having a butterfly information night for the campers. There would be a talk and videos about butterflies. Great to see the information getting out there! For information on this great spot, check out....
http://www.OntarioParks.com or http://www.friendsofmacgregor.org

[lindyfairbrother]

i have never seen so many monarchs as i have this summer. since early june i see 3 or 4 different monarchs every day. my kids and i have enjoyed raising several. at the moment we have 5 in pupae and another 5 on the grow, as well as about 4 eggs. two of the chrysalii look ready to "hatch" any minute, it's like waiting for a baby! monarchs are everywhere here on st. joseph island and in nearby sault ste marie, ontario!

[John Beaulieu]

It is turning out to be a great year for monarchs in central Ontario. When travelling, we joke about seeing a monarch every mile... and we do! I was up the Bruce Peninsula and saw quite an abundance of monarchs. One of the best areas that I have found up there is at Stokes Bay, which is about halfway up the peninsula on the Huron shore. There are areas there with the largest plants of common milkweed that I have ever seen.

I am used to the plants coming up to waist high, but many plants in the Stokes Bay area are up to six feet high! The blooms were at their peak and monarch activity was high.

Along the shoreline the top of the Niagara Escarpment creates a limestone pavement. In small holes on this pavement I found swamp milkweed. I don't know if it is because of the limestone or not, but it is the darkest flower of any swamp milkweed I have seen. Even the stems are a dark red.

It was very windy that day and the monarchs were lined up facing into the wind, travelling from one swamp milkweed to another. The plants were blowing in the wind and the butterflies could hardly hang on.

[Debbie in Northwestern On]

Wow, I am a very busy Monarch Waystation keeper! I had around 60 caterpillars in my yard and not enough milkweed to sustain them all. But I know of another well-established waystation in my city (Garden of Zsu Zsa) and she was happy to receive the 18 caterpillars I drove (in my car...not "get along little caterpillars" which is what my cattle-raising friends thought I meant) to her yard. I also brought 2 to a friend who had a healthy plant, 9 to my niece's little garden where she had 3 well-established plants, and 4 to the youth horticulture society leader for the kids to learn about butterflies. I also brought 3 to a "butterfly garden" my niece, nephew and I maintain. Unfortunately those were probably destroyed by kids who ripped out plants around the milkweed. I had a problem in my own yard with spiders. Now, I need someone to clarify this...it was my understanding the monarch (butterfly and caterpillars) are poisonous, but I know at least 4 of my caterpillars (very tiny to very large) were caught and spun into the web of a nasty spider. There are a lot of those spiders around this year. They are light green/beige with a swolen white body which has two stripes on it. Do spiders prey on monarchs? ....if so, just the caterpillars? Anyway, the crysalyses (sp?) are hatching....I saw one hatch a few days ago, two yesterday, and one today. Milkweed that was totally stripped is recovering quite nicely and tropical plants showing lots of growth. I already see a few new eggs. What an amazing miracle to watch! I was in Kentucky recently and there were people there from all over the U.S. I think I inspired three to set up Waystations...I have given them this website. They were from Kentucky, New Orleans.

[John Beaulieu]

Debbie - I can picture your caterpillar drive with a little chuckwagon of milkweed!

It is good to hear that the numbers are up all over the province.

We continue to see many monarchs in our day-tripping around the province. We were back up the Bruce Peninsula and around the Guelph area were the monarch per mile rule seemed to apply. The butterflies continue to visit our own garden and while sitting on a bench observing the activity, it became clear that the wandering females must use the visual appearance to locate the milkweeds. We have a lot of a tuberous sunflower-like plant (Jerusalem articoke) that, at this stage looks a lot like a possible milkweed (more like swamp milkweeds), and these are throughout the garden. The butterflies drift and swoop, looking for milkweeds, and they are attracted to these plants too, but after a quick touch with their feet, they continue on until they find a real milkweed.

There have been so many monarchs, that they are even making the television news. Global TV ran a story about the great number of monarchs around the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) and gave a fair bit of background information about the life cycle.

The following is passed on from an e-mail from Donald Davis of Toronto......
--------------------------------
Marco Kennema, a young 18 year old butterfly breeder from Breslau, Ontario near Cambridge, now reading hundreds and hundreds of monarchs and a few other species, will be this Thursday morning (Aug. 3rd) on national television.

His father has to bring him to CITY-TV for the "Breakfast Television" Show (also seen on some A-Channel stations) at 6.30AM. He will be
announced shortly after 7 AM and interviewed between 7.30 and 8.30 AM.

He will bring caterpillars, chrysallis and butterflies and of course butterfly and hummingbird attracting plants!

Marco will have lots of larva this month to sell to teachers. They have also constructed a new large butterfly house next to the Naturium building near
Breslau, Ontario (just west of Guelph and south of Hwy. 7 on Shantz Station road). Inside are many nectar sources and food plants for the many butterflies flying free inside.

Marco can be reached at: marcokennema@yahoo.ca
-----------------------

It is good to see the monarchs getting so much publicity.

John

[greggig]

John, you just confirmed the obvious, monarchs are all over the place in Quebec City area too. Not a day without seeing one.

[dannus plex]

Hey John,
A bit late here, but nice post and nice photos. I myself found a greater than five foot milkweed which yielded 15 cats over 2 years. Happy tagging for 06!!!

[Debbie in Northwestern On]

Monarch numbers seem to be dropping here. I see them in my garden but less and less often...only one every few days now. I have only 3 catarpillers still eating, one recently left to "J", and 4 chrysallis. One chrysallis should hatch today or tomorrow. I had predators....a spider earlier in the summer and I remedied that by removing the dense undergrowth (weeds) in my milkweed garden. Then there was another bug that looked like a tick. An endomologist identified it as a shield bug and it attacks the cats by sucking the juices out of it. It fixes itself to the stem of the milkweed and I found the cats dangling from the probiscus of this nasty bug. I lost 4 that way, ranging in size from 3rd to last instar. Despite the predators, it was a good year for monarchs in my garden. I have started at least 60 new seedlings for next year.
Debbie - Thunder Bay
Waystation 444

[RSM]

Well, just now I can see over half a dozen and we're in the middle of Hamilton. But yesterday my wife saw 20-30 here and I saw 40-50 in a tree a few kilometers away in a couple of trees.

[Erynne]

Hello,
I just wanted to report a sighting in my backyard in Mississauga, Ontario. I'm actually right beside Pearson Airport. On August 19/06 I had half a dozen Monarchs hanging on the branch of my maple. The only way I knew they were there was that my son kicked a soccer ball at the branch and sent them fluttering. Ever since then, the numbers have increased and today (August 28/06) I gave up counting at 140 because there's just too many clustered in my tree.
I know that Monarchs migrate and such but didn't realize they'd roost in backyards, especially mine,lol. Sorry, I'm very new to observing butterflies in general. I wish I could post a photo but I'm not sure how on here.

Tks,
Erynne

[John Beaulieu]

The season seems to be coming to an end, here in central Ontario. We are not finding any more eggs in our own yard or in our travels. We were up the Bruce Peninsula and although there were lots of monarchs flying around (the highways take quite a toll), we only found 4th and 5th instar caterpillars. I was collecting seed from the dark coloured swamp milkweed in Stokes Bay and had also wanted to get some seed from the large common milkweed in a patch that I have considered the best I have ever seen, however, the patch has been bulldozed over by the landowner, probably to build a house. Although I know of other good patches, I figure that if I'm going to grow plants from seed, I want to grow seed from the best plants I know.

There is no question that it has been a great year. Let's hope they return in good numbers next year,

John

[Debbie in Northwestern On]

The 3rd last Chrys. hatched on Sept. 2nd, my niece's birthday, leaving two left to hatch. I see no more butterflies. They hatch, have a little sip of nectar from the butterfly bush, which is now in full bloom, and then they take off for Mexico, I presume! New milkweed plants for next year are doing great...I got about 60 plants going in August and the ones I started in the Spring are doing well too. I do see other butterflies, but no Monarchs. Night temperatures are getting to be quite low. It went down to 2 Celcius a few nights ago.

Already anxious for Spring,
Debbie in Northwestern Ont.
Waystation 444

[RozieMozie]

only seeing males

when im lucky enough to sex the butterflies in my area, im only seeing males ... sexing butterflies is new too me, but finding only males seems strange

[dannus plex]

Point Pelee Provincial Park reported that 2100 Monarchs were seen at the tip of the park this morning and moved across the lake. The cool and rainy weather for the next few days should create a massing which may move on Monday when the weather clears and warms.

[RozieMozie]

i've not seen a butterfly in about 2 weeks ... though on Sat i saw one flying aorund ... hope its able to make its way south all on its own