Substantially more monarch butterflies have arrived in California to overwinter(goodnewsnetwork.org)
goodnewsnetwork.org
Substantially more monarch butterflies have arrived in California to overwinter
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/far-more-monarch-butterflies-in-ca-this-year/
53 comments
Random anecdote: I keep a couple of milkweeds casually on my 4th story apartment balcony in SoCal and I get many monarchs coming thru, sometimes a handful of cocoons at a time. I got a cheap butterfly enclosure and I put the entire plant in it to keep spiders and the like from getting to them either in the cocoon or shortly after. I purchased the plant only incidentally as it looked nice and the monarchs were a pleasant addition.
Thank you for your service.
I thought all monarchs made their cocoons in mexico?
I'm not sure about the western monarch, but the eastern monarchs out here in the midwest grow as caterpillars here and pupate in to a butterfly. I don't think they lay eggs down in mexico, I think they only have the butterfly form down there.
Additionally, there are three or four generations of them as they migrate. They don't migrate in one huge push. So the ones in mexico will migrate back north a bit, lay eggs, and die. Then that new generation will become adults, migrate north, and lay eggs, and die. Eventually they will reverse and start migrating south, laying eggs, and dying. Finally the last generation makes it to mexico to hang out for a while and avoid the cold, before starting it all over again!
Additionally, there are three or four generations of them as they migrate. They don't migrate in one huge push. So the ones in mexico will migrate back north a bit, lay eggs, and die. Then that new generation will become adults, migrate north, and lay eggs, and die. Eventually they will reverse and start migrating south, laying eggs, and dying. Finally the last generation makes it to mexico to hang out for a while and avoid the cold, before starting it all over again!
The migration requires multiple instars, so they reproduce on the way.
And if you're in CA and want to plant milkweed, please make sure it's a native milkweed.
From https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2021-04-01/how-to-fi...:
> Which brings us to the reason why tropical milkweed is such a problem in Southern California. See, tropical milkweed works fine as caterpillar food in colder parts of the United States, when it dies back during the winter, killing any parasites that live on the plants. But in Southern California tropical milkweed stays green and blooming year round. Xerces Society researchers believe this evergreen milkweed confuses normal monarch migration and allows harmful microscopic parasites — Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, or OE — to multiply on the plants. Monarch caterpillars end up eating a lot of this nasty parasite as they devour the leaves and researchers believe OE is sickening the adults, messing up their lifespans, migration patterns and ability to reproduce.
From https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2021-04-01/how-to-fi...:
> Which brings us to the reason why tropical milkweed is such a problem in Southern California. See, tropical milkweed works fine as caterpillar food in colder parts of the United States, when it dies back during the winter, killing any parasites that live on the plants. But in Southern California tropical milkweed stays green and blooming year round. Xerces Society researchers believe this evergreen milkweed confuses normal monarch migration and allows harmful microscopic parasites — Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, or OE — to multiply on the plants. Monarch caterpillars end up eating a lot of this nasty parasite as they devour the leaves and researchers believe OE is sickening the adults, messing up their lifespans, migration patterns and ability to reproduce.
Yeah, I haven't been seeing Monarchs for some time now, though just in the past few weeks I saw both a Queen (Danaus gilippus, a relative of the Monarch) and two Snout-Nosed butterflies (Libytheana bachmanii, another migratory species).
Not sure why, but this season does seem to have more butterflies than usual, at least locally. So maybe it's not just Monarchs.
Not sure why, but this season does seem to have more butterflies than usual, at least locally. So maybe it's not just Monarchs.
I wonder.
One mutation, and an a species can become resistant to certain toxins. For example, the plant itself is toxic to birds, yet the monarch eats it.
Did some mutation happen, and now the progeny of that lineage are multiplying? If other monarchs die, they'd have lots of food available, so would exponentially grow.
Hmm.
One mutation, and an a species can become resistant to certain toxins. For example, the plant itself is toxic to birds, yet the monarch eats it.
Did some mutation happen, and now the progeny of that lineage are multiplying? If other monarchs die, they'd have lots of food available, so would exponentially grow.
Hmm.
Xerces is great and deserves your support if this is an issue you care about!
When I was a kid on a farm in Saskatchewan, there were hundreds of Cabbage butterflies in my backyard, and usually a dozen or so Monarchs. I remember the Monarchs being easy to catch with my hands, as if they weren't afraid.
Now that I know how much their population has depleted, these memories feel extremely idyllic to me.
Now that I know how much their population has depleted, these memories feel extremely idyllic to me.
Not Monarch Butterflies, but my youth included a similar experience with Lightning Bugs. They completely disappeared from our yards by my teens, but before then, a major part of the non-winter experience was catching and releasing them in bare hands at dusk.
We took it for granted at the time.
We took it for granted at the time.
Yes. It’s shocking. I spend the past few decades assuming that I’d left them not that they’d left the earth. With covid I temporarily returned to the farm of my childhood and they were one of the most conspicuous collapses.
They used to be so numerous that they defined their own time of day - the magical cooling after mosquitos and before bedtime. Not any more. They are gone and mosquitoes no longer appear to be afraid of the dark.
They used to be so numerous that they defined their own time of day - the magical cooling after mosquitos and before bedtime. Not any more. They are gone and mosquitoes no longer appear to be afraid of the dark.
> mosquitoes no longer appear to be afraid of the dark.
Might be the Asian Tiger Mosquito[0]. They are active 24/7, unlike their crepuscular North American cousins. They also go for your ankles, so you usually don't get the "mosquito whine" in your ear before you're bitten. They've even evolved to overwinter in freezing conditions.
[0] https://cisr.ucr.edu/invasive-species/asian-tiger-mosquito
Might be the Asian Tiger Mosquito[0]. They are active 24/7, unlike their crepuscular North American cousins. They also go for your ankles, so you usually don't get the "mosquito whine" in your ear before you're bitten. They've even evolved to overwinter in freezing conditions.
[0] https://cisr.ucr.edu/invasive-species/asian-tiger-mosquito
I've noticed that areas in parks that have been left as "prairies" (basically, not mown and wildflowers allowed to bloom) have oodles of fireflies, and mown lawns have almost none.
I bet you'd get a ton of fireflies back if you left a small patch of your yard with longer grasses and wildflowers.
People get annoying at having even areas of less manicured yards, but you'll get a ton more lightning bugs, lady bugs, butterflies, bumble bees, etc.
I bet you'd get a ton of fireflies back if you left a small patch of your yard with longer grasses and wildflowers.
People get annoying at having even areas of less manicured yards, but you'll get a ton more lightning bugs, lady bugs, butterflies, bumble bees, etc.
I'm glad the lightning bugs haven't disappeared in my area, but I wonder what would wipe them out in a region. I'm leaning towards drought, but insecticides and habitat destruction could play a role as well.
I'm in the Chicago area, and I see them in Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin as well. This was a good year for them in my neighborhood.
I'm in the Chicago area, and I see them in Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin as well. This was a good year for them in my neighborhood.
During the covid lockdown, I had some fireflies in my backyard. Gone this year, and I haven't seen them in any of the other years I've been here. I wonder if there's a correlation?
I have nothing else to add but a friendly wave to another saskatchewan kid. it's not everyday!
I went to Mexico January past and lucked out that it was butterfly season. Ever since raising them with my own milkweed plants I had wanted to see this sight.
I can only encourage tourism for this event, a million butterflys flapping their wings definitely makes a sound and hopefully the more tourists that go to see them, the more value is placed on protecting their forestry reserves.
I can only encourage tourism for this event, a million butterflys flapping their wings definitely makes a sound and hopefully the more tourists that go to see them, the more value is placed on protecting their forestry reserves.
Anecdotally there has been an increase in Australia over the past five years, I see heaps of them whenever I go riding now and some about my house in suburbia.
I went to a small national park, a strip between two roads, and it was loaded with butterflies and dragonflies. It was like a disney film. It makes me think that vehicle pollution isn't their biggest threat but rather incecticides.
I went to a small national park, a strip between two roads, and it was loaded with butterflies and dragonflies. It was like a disney film. It makes me think that vehicle pollution isn't their biggest threat but rather incecticides.
A couple of decades ago you would see huge numbers of monarchs in the winter in Santa Cruz and Pacific Grove, but in recent years there have been almost none. I hope they manage to recover.
This seems like a website dedicated to only good news stories. Cool idea!
> Since 1997, millions of people have turned to the Good News Network® as an antidote to the barrage of negativity experienced in the mainstream media.
> Since 1997, millions of people have turned to the Good News Network® as an antidote to the barrage of negativity experienced in the mainstream media.
Even with the acknowledgement of the concept "flagship species" in conservation, I still don't get the obsession of monarch butterflies. The effort put into it seems to be pretty "narrow" for lack of better words (as in, it can't help much for other species). Did I miss something about how important it is?
Monarch butterflies are beautiful and I want them to continue to exist. I can’t speak for others but for me that is reason enough.
You need better reasons than that. I doubt this is the case with monarch butterflies, but there are certainly lots of plant/animal species that are aesthetically pleasing but become invasive and wholly detrimental.
If I'm not mistaken, monarchs are poisonous due to their diet, so there's some potential for negative impact if they overrun a niche that some other animal was planning to eat.
If I'm not mistaken, monarchs are poisonous due to their diet, so there's some potential for negative impact if they overrun a niche that some other animal was planning to eat.
Monarchs have migrated for thousands of years between remote locations, long before humans had a large impact on the environment.
Discovering and resolving problems for one species will very likely reveal or resolve problems for other species. It seems hard to lose.
Sometimes people just care about things that make us happy
people like LCMs: Large Charismatic Mammals. Tigers and elephants are easier to get funding to help compared to some ugly fish. People find most bugs gross and so are unlikely to help out. But the monarch is beautiful and many people remember them fluttering through their lives every year.
Anything to get people to care about insect biomass, imo.
> it can't help much for other species
Many of the solutions for reversing monarch also have positive side effects for other species.
All life is connected. One species can alert you to the deterioration of an entire ecosystem.
Many of the solutions for reversing monarch also have positive side effects for other species.
All life is connected. One species can alert you to the deterioration of an entire ecosystem.
Nope, it's just that for people it's easy to just focus on a few species instead of the whole web.
It also allows people to think "Yeah, that one particular species had a good year, so everything is fine and we can go back to business as usual".
I for one don't hold my breath.
It also allows people to think "Yeah, that one particular species had a good year, so everything is fine and we can go back to business as usual".
I for one don't hold my breath.
Anecdotally, I saw many more monarchs (or butterflies that appeared to be monarchs) this last summer than I have seen in over 20 years.
Same for my family. We don't count them, but we absolutely do make a point of noticing them. There were a lot more in our pollinator garden this summer than prior years.
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I've been living in the Grover Beach area for ~4 years, but visiting the monarch grove for about 15. This year has been _one_ of the better so far. With the milkweed I planted at the house I bought this year here, and milkweed I've seen my neighbors planting, I hope to continue to the uprise of their proliferation. That being said, my parents reported that in the 80s, there were about 2000x more of them than even now, so...
Nice thing about r-selected species is that when the conditions are right... they can recovery really quickly.
(unlike k-selected species like gorillas where the recovery takes many generations and decades...)
(unlike k-selected species like gorillas where the recovery takes many generations and decades...)
Hardly recovered. Just a little better than last year.
When my 19 year old was 2, we used to go to Santa Cruz Natural Bridges State Park, one of the spots they overwinter. The monarchs hung in thick cable-like strands from all the trees. As the day warmed, the sky swarmed with many thousands. Two thousand total is still a pittance. This population remains in dire straits.
When my 19 year old was 2, we used to go to Santa Cruz Natural Bridges State Park, one of the spots they overwinter. The monarchs hung in thick cable-like strands from all the trees. As the day warmed, the sky swarmed with many thousands. Two thousand total is still a pittance. This population remains in dire straits.
Monarch butterflies are nice and such, but let's not take this as an indication that everything is hunky-dory. The world's still going to hell in a hand basket if we don't address the predatory ecosystem exploitation that's currently driving our global economy. Habitat destruction is continuing, we still poison our fields and rivers and we still continue to cut apart vital ecosystems into smaller and smaller patches get more vulnerable every time.
But still; go little butterfly!
But still; go little butterfly!
If you live near San Francisco, the Bay Area or Silicon Valley there is a Monarch Butterfly overwintering site in the Ardenwood Historical Farms, Fremont.
The season is from November to February.
The season is from November to February.
8,000 monarchs in the Pismo Beach Grove holy crap!!! It’s been completely barren. Is it the La Niña weather? or is it too hot in the south?
I’d be pretty surprised if we have answer to why this is happening just yet. It‘ll probably take scientists a while to come up with plausible theories.
A blip caused by COVID I would suspect. I can see a year with lower levels of human activity helping butterflies and other relatively delicate creatures quite a bit. Good news, but I'd wait until 2023 before I got too excited.
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Obligatory George Carlin ref:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c
This is not a good take. It is patently obvious that humans have a large impact on the environment, and we value aspects of the environment. Just because some form of life is likely to survive our footprints, does not mean the things we value don't need to be stewarded to be maintained.
Carlin talks as if trying to protect species is interfering, wheres the opposite is not?! Humans are interfering no matter what, and it doesn't make sense to pretend otherwise. So if we're interfering no-matter what, let us be circumspect about it.
Carlin talks as if trying to protect species is interfering, wheres the opposite is not?! Humans are interfering no matter what, and it doesn't make sense to pretend otherwise. So if we're interfering no-matter what, let us be circumspect about it.
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Good news, everyone!
Considering the weather patterns (cold and wet in the west cost), this wouldn't be the case without global warming. Bad news.
Well, the breeding patterns of single species fluctuate very much. Global warming could be an issue, could not be an issue here.
In the long run, global warming will definitively wreck havoc, so; still bad news.
In the long run, global warming will definitively wreck havoc, so; still bad news.
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My neighbor used to pay us a quarter if we caught a butterfly and gave it to her. Dead or alive as long as it was intact. She liked to pin them up and then paint them. She was a shitty painter and all her work sucked and I have huge regrets over spending days killing butterflies and other bugs but can only say I was a young kid and would never do so now. I want to plant some milkweed to make up for my past.
Western US populations have collapsed: 4.5m in 80s, 1.2m in 1997, to 100k in 2002, to 2k in 2020.[1][2]
One issue is Monarch larva can only eat two plants: both milkweeds, toxic to their predators. Birds will vomit and then avoid them.[3] However, in recent years not one milkweed plant could be identified without heavy insecticide contamination. Even when no pesticides were used by the landowners or nearby.[4]
The Xerces Society is an excellent starting place to learn and get involved. https://xerces.org/monarchs
[1] https://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?_ID=36817 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_butterfly#/media/File:... [3] https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/the-case-of-the-barfi... [4] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2020.00162...