I'm curious if other(Central )Florida Butterfly watchers have noticed Monarch's hanging out or just passing thru.I've just collected approx.20 second instar cats and put them in my cage.I've inspected my milkweed plants and they are loaded with eggs.
In late summer and early fall the egg laying seemed to drop right off to almost zero.They had probably close to 100 lush milkweed plants to lay on,but nothing.Now it's picked up but not large numbers of females .Looking for feed back from other monarch watchers.
Don New Port Richey Florida
Central W.Florida a Monarch over wintering or just passing
Don they are just passing through. Let the cats pupate. They will hatch when it is warm enough. Then turn them lose. I let 25 go last Christmas when it was warm. Was a great Christmas present
Don, the reason there were few cats in the late summer could be there were a high number of predators. I've noticed later in the fall the predators drop off and the cats increase in numbers.
Maybe Becky will post, she's an expert and from Florida.
fly_girl - LOL! I'm NO expert! LOL
I am on the east coast in the southern most part of Central Florida. I have a LOT of cats and butterflies right now. I do agree with fly_girl that the predators have probably dropped off due to the cold snap we had about 3 weeks ago. Though .... I am noticing wasps showing up again. (Which are the main predators in my yard.)
It is likely that the Monarchs migrate to Florida when the weather gets cold up North. I have seen quite a few more in my yard this Fall than the past 2 years during this season. The butterflies that I see in my yard don't appear to be going anywhere. They seem to be living out their lives in and around my yard. So they probably spend winters here. It's warm enough for them right now. I have raised and released close to 200 already and I have about 60 or more that are cats or chyrsalis that will be released before the New Year. I release the newly emerged butterflies daily. (Usually 2-5 per day.) Some of them are also Queens. And I have quite a few Eastern Black Swallowtail cats and Gulf Fritillary cats in my garden as well. I'd have to say that this is prime time for butterflies!
Don - Enjoy them! Nice little end of the year gift from Mother Nature! And what a nice way to ring in the New Year! :-)
This message was edited Dec 16, 2006 3:26 PM
Donna ,fly_girl,Becky Thanks for the feed back. Becky I also have been lucky enough to have raised and released several hundred.April thru August an average of 85 to 125 for each of those months.Then in Sept the monarchs seemed to vanish and no more eggs on the milkweed.Now I assume the ones who have reappeared since thanksgiving are from up north.I think I read somewhere that the ones that go to central mexico don't lay many eggs on the way to mexico,but instead just nectar on the way.The ones that over winter act the same ole way as their parents and lay eggs and have a relativly short life span as long as there is enough milkweed to support their offspring.I guess my real question is ,will my location in Florida become an over wintering spot ,provided enough milkweed is present.Or is it just to far north to be suitable.Probably the only sure way to find out is to start tagging the freshly emerging monarch's.If only I knew how to tag a butterfly.How would you go about getting tags made up with your paticular information on it. I'm just rambling now ,so again thanks for the feed back Oh BTW if anyone needs Asclepias curassavica seeds and Cassia alta seeds I've got alot for a SASE. Don
Don - I am in zone 9b also. That's awesome that you have raised and released so many Monarchs as well! Maybe I'm getting some of yours! LOL
I think what determines an over-wintering spot is temperature. As long as the temps stay warm like they have been, I think the Monarchs will stay. I saw similiar behavior last year, just not on the grand scale as I have seen this year. (Far more Monarch butterflies and eggs/cats this year!) Last year the Monarchs disappeared in late January when the weather got much colder. Probably went south to Miami/Southern Florida. And then in March I started seeing them again. And you are right, I didn't see too many in the month of September. Not sure why.
I have never used the "official" tags either. I had marked the wings instead with a fine tip permanent marker after the wings are very dry (before I release them). Which is how I know many stayed or returned to my yard after being released. I don't do that anymore as my curiosity was satisified about whether or not they would return to my yard. Attached to this email is a photo of mating Monarchs which I kept in captivity because they eclosed when the weather got really cold and the milkweed died last winter. They mated in captivity in my cages. In this photo you can see the marking I used on the wings.
You have to purchase the official tags and I wasn't interested in spending the money for something like that. So I just devised my own tagging system.
I'm in 9a and have a couple of Monarchs laying eggs, and a couple of sulfurs.