The Monarch Butterfly winter population in Mexico is the lowest it’s been for 15 years.
According to Mike Quinn at Journey North:
This week, 36 hours of continuous rain fell primarily across the eastern
portion of Michoacan, and to a lesser extent throughout much of central
Mexico.Heavy rain followed by a freeze killed as much as 80% of the monarch
overwintering colonies in Jan/Feb of 2002 and 2004, but those years had the
highest monarch populations of the decade. Unfortunately, this winter the
monarchs are at their lowest recorded level in the past 15 years.Monarch overwintering population estimates 1995-2010 – Journey North
Lincoln Brower contacted colleagues in Mexico yesterday February 4 and
relayed the message that Pablo Span visited the Pelon colony on Tuesday 2
February and said “there were more (presumably dead) monarch butterflies on
the ground that he had ever before seen.”It will be awhile before a clearer picture emerges as numerous cities across
the region experienced severe flooding, landslides and bridges being washed
out. Obviously a human as well as a potential biological tragedy has
occurred.
Life cycle of Monarch Butterflies
Every spring Monarch Butterflies leave their wintering grounds in Mexico and begins a journey north. They will fly as far north as they can in search of milkweed. Here they will lay their eggs and die.
The next generation goes further north still, mate lay their eggs and die. This cycle is repeated until the Monarchs have populated all of North America.
In the fall, however, the last generation does not yet breed, instead flying from Canada and across the US all the way back to the wintering grounds in Mexico, where if it is lucky enough to survive the winter, will breed and begin the journey north once again.
Monarchs arrive in Mexico by the thousands, tattered and worn, and exhausted from this amazing journey.
What You Can Do to Help Monarch Butterflies
Plant milkweed. Monarch caterpillars must have plants from the family Aesclepias in order to grow and survive into adulthood.
Go to the USDA plants database to determine which species are appropriate for your region.
Unfortunately, current agricultural practices and management of roadside edges require the application of herbicides which wipe out many areas of milkweed. So Monarchs must fly longer and use up more energy before finding milkweed on which to lay their eggs.
When the wintering population is already so low, lack of milkweed along the journey north may have catastrophic consequences on this amazing butterfly.
Give generously to organizations like Monarch Watch who are researching this population and managing conservation efforts.
What are you doing for Monarch in your garden? What milkweeds do you plant?
© 2010, Carole Brown. All rights reserved.
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I am thankful that every year my garden produces “weed” milkweed vines. They have heart-shaped leaves, inconspicuous flowers, and showy pods filled with silky-tasseled seeds. When I moved to Kansas I had no clue what they were, but I left some to grow until I could find out. It was a joy to discover that they harbor monarch caterpillars! Most years I find caterpillars on excess vines I am removing from my garden. I always leave some vines for the monarchs and my kids have raised a good number of found monarch caterpillars from vines I’ve pulled up – we bring them inside and feed them and raise them.
Although I have planted the classic orange-flowered milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa, it’s not been highly successful for me. The “weeds” are much better. Last year I met one of the founders of Monarch Watch – he’s practically a Kansas neighbor (relatively speaking) and an interesting individual.
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I am not familiar with a milkweed vine. We don’t have that here. I have very little success with Butterfly Weed (Aesclepias tuberosa) because my soil is heavy clay, but I grow Swamp Milkweed and Common Milkweed with no trouble.
The plant I’m talking about is Cynanchum laeve – honeyvine milkweed.
Here is the link to its entry in the NRCS plant database:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CYLA&mapType=nativity&photoID=amal3_001_ahp.tif
Carole, Milkweed is a welcome addition to my gardens. I am dishearten to read this post. 2009 was the first year in twenty five that I did not raise and release Monarchs into my gardens. In fact I only ever saw all summer and fall… two or three Monarch butterflies in the garden or surrounding area… (Over the years I would pick milkweed from the paths and many would have eggs on the leaves, so I became the caretaker for the little caters.) I know all the rain had kept them away, but had read they were plentiful in other places … some places where they had not really been seen in such numbers before. Now reading this I am deeply concerned for the butterflies and of course for the peoples of that area. I had visited the overwintering sites in 2004 with a small group led by William Calvert and saw the forests first hand and the illegal cuttings going on. To read Dr. Lincoln Brower’s quote is so sad.
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Carol, it seems that this year the Monarchs are going to need all the help we can give them. From Texas to Canada, each of us can help ensure their survival by rolling out the welcome mat by planting milkweed. That’s so cool you’ve been to the wintering sites. I haven’t yet been able to make that pilgramage.
Carole, where did you get your common milkweed initially? As I mentioned in our wind-filled conversation, we’ve tried from seed and from a plant, and we’re not sure whether it was timing or placement or the seed itself that didn’t take. For example, there were some little orange bugs in the pod, and we weren’t sure whether they might have damaged the seeds in some way.
Thanks,
Jen
Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve has a wonderful native plant sale every May. They usually have Swamp and Common Milkweed as well as Butterfly Weed. Also they carry seeds, which are available online.
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