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Contents:
1) Status of the Population
2) Tagging Kits Still Available; Please Return Your Datasheets
3) Seed Collecting: Yes, Sir - Three Bags Full!
4) Monarch Waystation Update
5) Monarch Watch Open House & Monarch Tagging Event
6) Monarch Degree Days For The Last Three Seasons
7) Western Monarchs
8) Papalotzin Visits Monarch Watch
9) About Our Update List
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Unless otherwise noted, all content was authored by Chip Taylor, edited by Jim Lovett and Sarah Schmidt, and published by Jim Lovett.
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Written 18 September 2005.
Last month I was excited about the coming migration. It looked to be a good one and all indications were that monarchs had recovered successfully from the low numbers seen since the end of the winter of 2004. To quote from the August Update “Last month [July] I predicted that the migration would result in an overwintering population in Mexico of 5-7 hectares (all monarch colonies combined). It now looks like the population could be even larger and may even exceed the long term average of 9 hectares - let’s hope this is the case.” Curiously, although we received numerous reports of large numbers of monarchs seen in August and many accounts of good numbers of eggs and larvae into September, the number of reports of substantial numbers (hundreds or thousands) of monarchs seen on the move or clustered in trees during the evenings have been relatively few. I’m not sure if the low number of sightings is significant or not. Perhaps the monarchs have been widely dispersed due to the relatively warm weather experienced in the Midwest for the first two weeks of September. I haven’t checked the weather records for the whole region but in eastern KS the first front for the month to pass through the area arrived on the evening of the 14th. Generally, monarchs appear to become concentrated as a series of fronts pass through the Midwest each fall. When the temperatures are in the 90s and the winds are light and variable from the S and SW, the butterflies tend to remain highly dispersed. On the other hand, strong SW winds appear concentrate the population as monarchs seek shelter from the wind on the lee sides of windbreaks or in the gallery forests along rivers. So, what might we conclude about the numbers of migrating monarchs? I’m not sure. The numbers reported to date and the quantity of monarchs I’ve seen passing through Lawrence is certainly not exceptional but at this point it still seems likely that the overwintering population will approach 9 hectares.
The pace of the migration remains an issue that requires more investigation. A few years ago David Gibo and I worked out a hypothetical pace for the migration which showed that the monarchs should move rather slowly when migrating through the northern latitudes, then, more a bit more rapidly at mid latitudes, and yet more slowly again as they approached the overwintering area in Mexico. These calculations assumed that the butterflies moved without the aid of fronts from the NW, N and NE that are known to accelerate the movement of the population. I was in Minnesota at the end of August (26-29) at or near the time of the passage of the front of the migration through the Twin cities area. The front of the migration appeared to reach eastern Kansas on the 14th (about 3-4 days later than the long term average). The distance between the front in Minnesota and that in Kansas was about 450 miles and the interval roughly 20 days yielding an average daily advance for the population of about 22 miles per day. There didn’t appear to be any passing fronts during this period. The pace of movement from MN to KS this year is close to the predicted rate of passage for the population across these latitudes.
I have been tracking the monarch population each year in eastern Kansas since 1992. My methods are casual rather than quantitative, yet by monitoring the survival of monarch larvae on milkweed plants in our gardens and on the potted milkweeds placed along side our building, I can get a good idea of the amount of predation and parasitism in the vicinity of our lab. By looking for and collecting larvae elsewhere in the Lawrence area and getting reports from local monarch enthusiasts, I get information on the status of the population in the local area. Usually the trends I see at the lab (e.g., rate of parasitism by tachinid flies) pertain to the general area. Through this casual monitoring I have acquired the impression that eastern Kansas does not contribute large numbers of monarchs to the migratory and overwintering population. Yes, we often have substantial numbers of breeding monarchs in August but the number of new monarchs emerging in September before and during the migration is usually relatively low. The explanation for the modest success of the August breeding population appears to be predation and parasitism. Predators such as ambush bugs, stink bugs, wheel bugs, yellow jackets and paper wasps are usually abundant. These predators seek out and consume large numbers of soft-bodied insects including monarch larvae. Parasitism by tachinid flies is another mortality factor. In late August and early September, 60-80% of the monarch larvae not eaten by predators usually die as a result of parasitism by tachinids.
The mortality of late season larvae was lower than normal last year and remarkably low this season. Last year predation by piercing and sucking insects (Hemiptera) was still high and the largest of these, the wheel bug, was extremely abundant due to the abundance of grasshoppers. Lepidoptera in general were low in the summer of 2004 leaving little food for the build-up of the yellow jacket and paper wasp populations. As a result, by the end of the season the loss of monarch larvae due to these predators appeared to be low. The spring of 2005 seemed to get off to a good start but three weeks of rain in eastern Kansas in June had a negative impact on the first generation of many Lepidoptera. Populations of butterflies and moths were noticeably low throughout the summer. The grasshoppers crashed too, leaving little food for wheel bugs that all but disappeared as the summer progressed. Without the basic food supply needed to sustain or to build up their populations, the typical monarch predators were scarce in August of 2005. Tachinids were also down in numbers and the rate of parasitism in a number of small samples was 20-30%. Released from the usual mortality due to predation and parasitism this season, the last generation of monarchs in our area was unusually large. It has always been difficult for me to find late season monarch larvae in the countryside in eastern Kansas. In fact, it is usually difficult to find evidence of larvae feeding on common milkweed – especially late in the season. Our common milkweed is usually not in good shape at the end of August. The leaves are tough, most are yellowing and many plants only bear the seed pods. As a result of over 9 inches of rain in August, by the third week of August many of the common milkweeds that had not produced seed pods added new leaves and remained green rather than noticeably senescing. The monarch breeding population took advantage of this and females oviposited extensively on this new growth [females usually shun the common milkweed at this time of year due to its poor condition, laying eggs instead on blue vine, Cynanchum leave]. The result was milkweed defoliation on a scale I’ve never seen in Kansas
Photos: http://www.monarchwatch.org/update/2005/defoliation/
and a larval population that surpassed anything I’ve experienced with the exception of one cutover hayfield in Maine I encountered a few years back. I didn’t keep a record but I easily collected 150 5th instar larvae while exercising the dog early in the morning. I didn’t even bother collecting the smaller larvae or eggs. Twice I had the experience of finding 4 fifth instar larvae at the top of a milkweed and several times I collected 10 or more larvae from fewer than 10 plants in close proximity. It was clear that I could have collected hundreds and hundreds of larvae if I’d had the time to do so. Even as late at the 14th of September I found twelve 5ths and one 4th instar on a relatively small number of plants. While collecting seed pods of the common milkweed the 17th I found four more 5th instars. (Three days later when I took the pictures of the defoliated milkweeds, I found 4 more larvae). The bottom line is that the end of season monarch production in eastern Kansas in 2005 was exceptional leading me to believe that Kansas born monarchs will constitute a higher than normal proportion of the overwintering population in Mexico this year.
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2) Tagging Kits Still Available; Please Return Your Datasheets
2005 Monarch Tagging Kits are still available via the Monarch Watch Shop online (24/7) at
http://Shop.MonarchWatch.org/category.aspx?c=tagging_kits
or by calling 1-800-780-9986 (M-F 8am-8pm ET)
Contrary to information in the Monarch Watch Shop, we are currently turning around tag orders in 24-48 hours – then they are mailed out via USPS 1st Class Mail.
Please Return Your Datasheets. Once you finish tagging for the season please be sure to make photocopies of your datasheets and mail the completed originals to us so that your tagging data can be entered into our database. Thanks!
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3) Seed Collecting: Yes, Sir - Three Bags Full!
After the tagging event at the Baker Wetlands on Saturday the 17th, I headed off for some long delayed collecting of seed pods of the common milkweed. I managed to fill three mesh bags with seed pods before I ran out of energy. The pods were spread out to dry in the greenhouse before separating the seed from the pods and the coma (“silk”). Because of the interest in our Monarch Waystation program, collecting and buying seeds of various milkweed species has become a priority for us. As I’ve suggested before (http://www.monarchwatch.org/update/2005/0728.html#7), collecting seed pods is a great activity for kids and is a way to get them involved in projects to create and protect habitats for monarchs and other wildlife.
Photos: http://www.monarchwatch.org/update/2005/syriaca/
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4) Monarch Waystation Update
Some time in the next month things will slow down a bit and we will be able to conduct a complete assessment of how far we’ve come with the Monarch Waystation program and where we want to be next year at the end of the season. There are now over 300 registered and certified Monarch Waystations. We were hoping for a 1000 registered Waystations the first year but 300 in the first 6 months is quite good considering that the online application process wasn’t available until July. We are happy with the progress to date and wish to thank all of you who have registered your monarch habitats. We hope that many more of you will register your sites through the fall and winter months.
A number of you with Monarch Waystations have sent us pictures of your monarch habitats. We will begin posting some of these images in coming Updates. If you would like to have images of your Monarch Waystation added to this archive, please send electronic images to jlovett@ku.edu. Photos can be sent to our mailing address.
We hope to have more news next month concerning the design of rain gardens so that they are suitable habitats for monarchs, other butterflies and numerous pollinators.
If you look at the Monarch Waystation registry online at
http://www.MonarchWatch.org/ws/registry.html
you will see that habitats for monarchs have been created at home and public gardens, nature centers, butterfly houses, schools, zoos, park districts, botanical gardens, and funeral homes. This is a great start and the possibilities seem endless. It sure would be good to get some retirement homes, hospitals, and golf courses on the registry as well, so please continue to spread the word and get others involved in creating, conserving and protecting monarch habitats!
Monarch Waystation Program: http://www.MonarchWatch.org/ws/
Finally, we now have a limited number of Monarch Waystation T-shirts and Canvas Tote Bags available via the Monarch Watch Shop. We announced this in our online forums last week and orders are starting to come in! Each features the Monarch Waystation logo with the message "Create, Conserve, & Protect Monarch Habitats" and the t-shirt adds "Monarch Waystations" on the front left chest. The artwork is printed in a two-tone green that compliments the natural color of the t-shirt and canvas tote.
You can view the graphics in the forum announcement at
http://www.MonarchWatch.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=249
or in the Monarch Watch Shop at
Monarch Waystation T-shirt (item #125872)
http://Shop.MonarchWatch.org/product.aspx?p=125872
and
Monarch Waystation Canvas Tote (item #125874)
http://Shop.MonarchWatch.org/product.aspx?p=125874
You can order these items online in the Monarch Watch Shop by using the product links above or by calling 1-800-780-9986. Let us know what you think!
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5) Monarch Watch Open House & Monarch Tagging Event
We got lucky this year. The weather during both the Open House on the 10th of September and the Tagging at the Baker Wetlands on the 17th was sunny and simply grand. To have a tagging day when it didn’t rain was great since it had rained on this day for three years in a row. We were beginning to think we were jinxed or that all that we had to do to make it rain was to schedule an event. The Open House was a great success. We didn’t count the attendees but estimated that 500-600 people paid us a visit (and enjoyed nearly 500 cookies!). We had the Pupa Tent ready once again and gave away at least 250 chrysalises to the children who attended the event. We didn’t have enough monarchs for the children to tag so I gave several tagging demonstrations to groups of 20-40 onlookers. During these demonstrations I answered lots of questions about monarchs and the migration. The tagging event at the Baker Wetlands attracted about 200 people. I was fearful that few monarchs would be found as only relatively small numbers had been seen the evening before. Yet, as the morning wore on and the taggers pushed deeper into the wetlands, they encountered more and more monarchs visiting the sunflowers. Eight taggers returned with full data sheets for the 25 tags they had been issued and overall about 400 monarchs were tagged – the most successful tagging since 2001.
Open House Photos: http://www.MonarchWatch.org/openhouse
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6) Monarch Degree Days for the Last Three Seasons
By Janis Lentz and Chip Taylor
Due to the size of this article (lots of data!) it has been given its own page at
http://www.MonarchWatch.org/update/2005/0929_degreedays.html
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7) Western Monarchs
Mia Monroe kindly assembled the following information on monarch happenings in the West
Western observers are seeing a monarch or two at sites along the coast! Plans are underway to welcome them back with festivals, parades and special tours. Check the Xerces Society Monarch Campaign's website for up-to-date information: www.xerces.org
October 1 is a red letter day in Pacific Grove: the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary reopens! The annual parade is also this day.
October 8 is Monarch Migration and Open Garden Day at Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont.
October 9 is Welcome Back Monarch Day at Natural Bridges State Reserve in Santa Cruz. Join the parade, eat great food (including monarch cookies), enter the raffle, enjoy the 5 M's mostly mediocre muscial monarch music and come in costume.
October 22 is Earth Friendly Gardening Fair and Butterfly Garden Tour at the Marin Art and Garden Center in San Anselmo, CA
October 29 is the annual citizen scientist monitoring workshop at Andrew Molera State Park, sponsored by the Ventana Wilderness Society. We are especially looking for volunteers in southern California (LA, Orange and San Diego counties) to monitor monarchs throughout the season but especially around Thanksgiving. Contact jessicagriffiths@ventanaws.org to get the flyer and sign up for this important opportunity to get more involved in monarch conservation.
November 26 Monarch Madness Festival and Tours at Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History
December 4 Marin County Monarch Discovery Tours with Ranger Mia Monroe (muirmia@aol.com) 10 am at the Marin Headlands Visitor Center (415-331-1540) and 1:30 at Muir Beach parking lot (415-388-2596). Free.
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8) Papalotzin Visits Monarch Watch
I’m not good at waiting. I’m not patient enough. I don’t relax and I worry too much. The Papalotzin crew had run into weather problems in the vicinity of St. Louis and instead of arriving at 6PM at the airport in Lawrence on Saturday the 24th, as planned, they had taken refuge overnight at some unknown location in western Missouri. A call in the morning suggested they would arrive around noon and then another call indicated an even later arrival. So, it was with nervous anticipation that we waited for the arrival of Papalotzin at the airport on Sunday afternoon. Finally, we heard Vico Gutierrez, the pilot of the ultra-light, call to Lawrence flight control “Lawrence, this is Monarch Ultra-light. We are 5 miles from the airport and request landing on runway 15”. Another call came in saying that the monarch ultra-light was one mile out. I walked out to the runway with Nelson Krueger, a former TWA pilot, who knew his way around the airport. We got close to the runway, and Nelson pointed out the ultra-light in the distance. When I first spotted the aircraft it was about the size of a distant monarch or maybe a great blue heron. It got closer and closer but didn’t seem to get larger the way one expects with approaching aircraft. I started taking pictures but even with my 400mm lens the aircraft was just a speck in my viewfinder as it landed. Vico maneuvered the ultra-light on to the taxiway and then came to a stop near the small group ready to greet him. As Vico and Tania climbed out of their seats, my mood changed dramatically. Their arrival was the tonic I needed and my worries and concerns disappeared.
We spent much of the afternoon planning for the press conference and filming on Monday. Late in the afternoon Vico and Luis were in the air again making passes over picturesque scenes for filmmaker Kay Milam.
Sunday night I started thinking about the press conference – what if we have a press conference and no one shows up? I worried about it all night and had some pretty strange dreams. The press conference was scheduled for10AM at Monarch Watch. The Papalotzin crew showed up with the van and trailer about 9:30 and assembled the ultra-light in about 30 minutes.
Photos: http://www.monarchwatch.org/update/2005/papalotzin/
Much to my surprise the media and members of the public did show up for the press conference. I have never called a press conference so I wasn’t sure what to do but somehow it worked. Vico answered lots of questions and had a number of interviews. Two of the press accounts can be found at the following links:
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/sep/27/monarch_tracker_visits_ku/
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/12749692.htm
After the press conference, the ultra light had to be disassembled, driven to the airport, and then reassembled so that the crew, with Luis as pilot and Vico as co-pilot and cameraman, could fly over the wetlands and take pictures of the monarch taggers. Most of them were beginners who had never been to the Baker Wetlands before. They were eager to learn how to catch and tag monarchs, and to see the Papalotzin fly overhead as promised. Greg, Andrew and Tania were with the taggers. Greg and Andrew filmed the tagging and the flyovers by the Papalotzin while Tania grabbed a net and tagged a monarch or two. It was a spectacular afternoon and everyone seemed to have fun. After the tagging, I was a bit worn down but the crew wasn’t done with me yet. They needed an interview for their documentary production. So, they propped me up in a nice spot in our Monarch Waystation and began firing questions at me. They knew the right buttons to push and we had a long interview.
Kay Milam invited us all to dinner at the Freestate Brewery, a famous watering hole and dining establishment in Lawrence. During the meal Vico urged me to fly with him the next morning. I knew he was going to ask and I knew what I was going to say – NO! – but politely. Well, I didn’t say no and I didn’t say yes. Vico mentioned that he had taken over 7,000 people up with him. Luis chimed in that the number was closer to 8,000. Wow! That’s a lot of passengers! Vico asked me to think about it overnight. The next morning was beautiful and I knew immediately that I wanted to fly. There were no second thoughts. And, fly we did! It was amazing. I took lots of pictures of Lawrence and even a shot of our Monarch Waystation. I was sorry when the flight was over. Vico brought the ultra-light down so gently I couldn’t even tell when the wheels hit the runway. When I mentioned this to one of my friends, he suggested that I had probably passed out by that point! But no, I was into every second of the experience – and I’d do it again – if Vico was the pilot. Thanks, Vico and thanks for bringing the Papalotzin and your wonderful crew to Monarch Watch.
If you wish to follow the adventures of the Papalotzin, log onto http://www.papalotzin.com/
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