Monarch Migration

Mellie, ROFLOL! Sheila, I've never been to PA. My philly is ready. I am a horse person, so I don't call my monarch "filly"!

Wow, Sheila, I adore your group. So your cats just crawled off their food onto the styrofoam and formed chrysallises there. The chrysallises are quite symetrical. Did you or the cats do that?

Because I didn't put styrofoam in my cage, my Monarch crawled over and attached herself to a leaf. The leaf died; I taped it to the stem so my Monarch wouldn't fall down. See the empty chrysallis encircled in red. The Monarch is hanging from it -- she had just eclosed. That's a GREAT pic of eclosing you made.

A tagging kit would be great. Where will you order it from? I'm learning so very much from you guys.

Martha

Martha.... I glued them on the styrofoam emerging board that I cover with material. I allow them to make their chrysalis in the Glad plasticware container cages like this one. Then I scrape off the webbing they put down and glue it (careful not to have it too hot) spacing it at a safe distance from each other.
You did a great job with your bf, your hooked now! lol!

Monarch watch has tagging kits. Everytime I've looked they've been out of stock. I think you have to order them as soon as they become available or they run out.

Meant to give the link http://www.monarchwatch.org/tagmig/tag.htm
Looks like they still have them available right now. : )


This message was edited Sep 28, 2008 10:04 AM

I think they also only offer the tags during the time of year the Monarchs are migrating. I guess since they're a yearly project, they might not want people using tags from previous years. Not to sure on that, though.

Melanie

Ya Melanie, I did read on the page that they don't want you using last years tags this year. : )

Oh, sorry I didn't address that question; thanks Meredith and Melanie for picking up for me.

Thanks for the info, Sheila. And, yep, I'm hooked!

Martha

Saw this beauty (actually beauties--there were four Monarchs) on my White Butterfly Bush yesterday (9/30/08). Just had to share such a lovely image.

I have spotted more monarch's here in the past 5 days

better late than never :)

She is a beauty snug!
I had the pleasure of releasing six Monarchs (all female!!) today and it looks like 7 more chrysalis will be ready tomorrow!! I have had 100% success rate so far with my cats collected in the first and second instar. However of the 13 that were late collections(3 & 4th instar), I have already had two fatalities due to parasites getting to them early on.

The Monarchs and others are on the move here as well. The DH and I went to the subcourthouse to get a car tag update and they had a beautiful native nectar garden and it was loaded with butterflies!! I counted about 8 Monarchs and 3 or 4 Painted Ladies in one area. We need to return with a better camera and get some pictures to share.

Good work, Sheila. Congratulations. I hope to be able to contribute like that some day. Maybe next summer????

Snug, very pretty photo of the Monarch on your White Butterfly Bush. The white contrasts pleasingly with the orange and black of the butterfly.

I, too, have noticed a pickup of activity, Wind. It's exciting, isn't it!

Martha

Just for those of you keeping up with this thread..the Monarchs are making their way to Mexico as of October & still coming through this week (Nov). It is still warm here in North Texas that my cosmos & marigolds are still blooming which is helping feed the Monarchs on their long journey!!! I am going to wait until the frost kills the plants before removing in case of stragglers! :0)

cindylove: thank you so much for the posting. It's good to know the Monarchs are on track, and it's good to know you are supplying a bit of food for them.

Martha

well, we are surprised they are still here as usually they are all in Mexico by the middle of October..so we hope all is well...of course the environment changes may effect their migrations.
I've got two lingering around my flowers today! They are beautiful..when I get my photos back I will post them.

You need to ask Santa for a digital camera Cindy! Instant gratification!!

This pic was a fun project I did with the children that were at our Thanksgiving Lunch today. They made wildlife food strings for their Grandma Louise and hung them on the tree. Left to right is Caden, Matti, and Emma.
The two on the left are my niece and my nephew's kiddos. The weather was great here today and we were outside after lunch. Matti saw a butterfly and got very excited; and Caden found a lady bug and placed it on a plant. I am giving thanks today for our next generation of nature lovers!!

Precious children, Sheila. It's heartwarming to see kids care about nature.

Martha

The kiddos look so sweet, Sheila! I met my daughter and her family for lunch yesterday (they were visiting from Houston) and also my sister and her son and DIL. I hadn't seen my sister and nephew in years and met his wife for the first time). I forgot to bring my camera and nobody else had brought one either. Darn...if I wasn't a bit sick I would have remembered the camera, but I have a bug with some weird side effects. I know I still had a few Monarchs as of the 13th...may have been some later, but that's the latest pic I see.

Wasn't any butterflies flying yesterday. The rain and cold kept them dormant. I didn't get out either; didn't care to fight the shopping crowd!

Sheila, I am a die hard photo person..being a graduat of photography I am finding it hard to switch. Recently I thought I wouldn't be able to get my older camera fixed so was preparing to go digital. But I found a place that repairs all types of cameras so now I am like a kid in a candy shop..again! hahaha
I wanted to be a wildlife photographer & will post some pics when I get them.

Oh please do! I have to have my "fix" of looking at all those fascinating creatures. That's one reason we live in the country. Although I have to admit, I could happily do without wild hogs and coons.I know there's also a forum for all wildlife.

Cindy did you get to look at all the pics entered in the photo contest? If not look on the home page and see if the link is still there. They were some georgeous pictures this year.

Had a sneak peek at the contest..but will look at it more later.thanks Can't get over that my cosmos is still blooming & it's colder these days.

Check out this video on Yahoo news about the Monarch migration: http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?ei=UTF-8&p=mexico+sanctuary&c=av

That is very good news that the Mexican gov. plans to expand the Monarch santuary. Thanks for the video, Melanie!

Martha

I just noticed this thread on the 10 last posts and thought I would check it out. I was surprised to see how long it's been since the first post in August.

I just wanted to share what's happening in my garden at this time. Many of my milkweed plants are starting to die out, so I thought I would pull them out and toss them on my compost pile. As I was cutting the branches, I noticed many cats under the leaves, but the plant was dead. I finally got my puners and cut the leaf off and transplanted them, leaf and all, over to some still healthy plants. When I did that, I was shocked to see many more cats on those plants also. I couldn't count the exact number of them, but there were over 12 cats, in different stages of developement. They were muching away happily all over the plants. As I walked away, I notice a big guy crawling over my Geum looking for a place to do it's thing. I will be going out to check on them on a daily basis to make sure they all continue to thrive at this time.

What was so cool to me, was that 2 of my neighbors saw me doing all this and came over to see what I was doing. They were both in awe and didn't have a clue that these plants I grow was for the Monarchs. Now, they want some seed for next year. How cool was that???

Donna

oh Donna, that's VERY cool! Congrats on all the cats.

So, so cool, Donna!

Martha

Amazing, isn't it? We know everybody should grow milkweed, but people just don't realize how important that is!

Way to go Donna! We need to get as many folks as possible on board! Seems that only organic nurseries sell host plants, and most people shop at big chain nurseries like HD or Lowes. Often times the staff do not even know what a "host plant" is at all. They know more about selling chemicals to kill anything that feed on plants. We can change this if we keep working at it like you are!

Someone way up the thread, (Martha I believe), was asking how Monarchs know to migrate. I read Mellie's link and agree with the climate change and length of days as a major influence. I also believe that Monarchs follow the sun, and that's how so many wind up in the same roosting spots every year as if someone etched out a map for them....
You see as the winter approaches the suns trajectory in the sky moves south, and when they wake up to begin traveling again the sun is in a certain spot at the warmest time of the day. Each day they set out again the same, following the sun as something within them seems magnetized to the placement of the sun... Until finally they converge at their perfect and various roosting spots and remain until the following spring.

Being a butterfly person all these years has me beginning to think like a butterfly...lol. :-)

Hope everyone here has been collecting their Milkweed and other host plant seeds. Give them out to as many as will grow them. I sure hope the numbers are much better next year.

Debnes

I just spotted this thread. Hey, Donna, you'll be glad to know the Constance Elliott passiflora you so kindly gave us was FULL of fritillary cats this year and we had flutterbys flying all over the place. It was a great exhibition and we still see a few now and then. I'm trying to get more BF plants in the ground. We planted a Lavatera yesterday.

Oh Kathleen, that is wonderful to hear. Isn't it fun to watch them go after that plant. I had another neighbor that came by one day and asked me what the plant was on my trellis that was attracting all the butterflies. I told him and he wanted to go out and buy one right away. I reached over to some potted plants and handed him a nice small plant that I had dug up the week before. He was so grateful. I just love sharing my extras with others that will enjoy them.
So, what type of Lavatera did you get? The light purple one?

I only have the orange milkweed, but would love to find the pink or white ones too. Does anyone have some extras to share? lol

Donna

Be careful which milkweed you get - the wrong one is not good for the cats, I've read. From Las Pilitas:

KaperC,
can you provide a citation (website, scientific paper, article, etc) about having a 'wrong' milkweed? I had Asclepias curassavica (tropical milkweed "Sillky Gold" and raised a bunch of ats, including 2 that I caged and watched go through the whole process.

What is "Las Pilitas"?

It's the Black Swallow-wort vine in the Asclepias that is toxic.(Cynanchum genus)

http://www.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=1157&&PageID=3752&mode=2&in_hi_userid=2&cached=true

Las Pilitas www.laspilitas.com is the web site of a California native plant nursery. They have articles devoted to planting for wildlife. http://www.laspilitas.com/wildlife/california_wildlife.html

I have read this elsewhere, too, and will try to track down the source. Sorry for the confusion - SoCal and I live near each other and I was responding to her post.

A bit more...

http://monarchwatch.org/milkweed/index.htm

North American Butterfly Association is recommending native plant species for butterflies. They are updating their regional guides to reflect this. http://www.nababutterfly.com/guide_index.html#

I found several sources that quoted Las Pilitas, so I am going to write to the owner and ask him where he learned this. I found "wrong milkweed" mentioned in threads on different boards, with no sources. I'm wondering if (other than the mention on the Monarch Watch page above) it's not so much that it will hurt the butterfly population, but that the wrong type won't give the protection they need from predators. Also, there is the question of whether monarchs in one area would have the same immunity to non-native milkweeds?

I'm a rank beginner at butterfly gardening, but our landscape is mostly native and we try to plant for bees, birds, and butterflies, so generally use native plant resources for information. Perhaps that skews my knowledge somewhat.

I read somewhere about butterfly releases. If you are into that thing, they recommend you NOT release eastern monarchs in the west and vice versa because of population differences.

Here's the response I received from Bert Wilson, who owns Las Pilitas:

Hmmm...I always say native is better if you have the choice. But I've never seen a Monarch eat a milkweed and not like it or have problems. The biggest problem I've seen is with the OE spore disease. Oh, and while I was training our new volunteer at the museum this weekend, we rounded up twelve Monarch cats! The butterflies seem pretty smart because we found all but one on the milkweed that was growing in the shade house. It's like they know it's protected from the wind and cold.

Oh, and a cute guy came up and asked what we were doing so I got to show him the cat. Of course, I was in my grubby gardening clothes but he was picking up trash so I guess we were even, LOL! He had good eyes because the one I showed him was about to molt and he asked why it had "two faces" so I explained about the head capsule falling off.

I also read in one of my butterfly books that in the lab scientists varied the amount of light and fooled Monarchs into flying various directions after they eclosed. They got to where they could accurately predict the angle of the degree from the sun it would take when it flew away.

I've heard this for a long time. The theory is that west coast monarchs need milkweed that grow naturally in their flight path along the west coast. Supposedly, the "eastern" milkweeds that don't naturally grow in the west are not safe for the cats. I think...could be wrong...that A. curassavica is safe on both sides of the country.