I live on the west coast of northern Michigan after spending half my life on the Gulf Coast.
I have read about Monarch butterfly migration, that they like milkweed plants (which is why I let those thrive along the property line edges). With winter just around the corner, why are they still here?
They are beautiful and I enjoy their presence, but shouldn’t they be headed to Mexico, Central America? I had one land on me briefly the other day while sitting on the front porch. We had a short conversation and he/she went about their butterfly business. Anyone care to fight my ignorance?
The monarchs you’re seeing now might not even be the ones who will migrate this fall. Normally monarchs only live a few weeks. In the fall a special generation of uber-monarchs is born which can live for many months, and those are the ones who undertake the migration to Mexico.
Uber-monarchs. I like that term. Perhaps the many I am seeing lately are those. They are a beautiful creature - unlike the typical generic butterfly/moth I get to see.
Given that my bones and joints disagree, winter is coming. YMMV.
Of course, don’t forget, I’m from the south. 60 degrees F has me putting on my winter coat.
I’ve been raising monarch (and swallowtail) butterflies this summer, and I think there might still be some migration-generation eggs being laid here in upstate NY. Keep planting that milkweed! (And dill, parsley, Queen Anne’s lace, and other carrot-family for the swallowtails.)
Wow. I did not know that. To kayaker, the milkweed around here is native to the area northern Michigan climate, so I am hopeful that it contains no nasty parasites. I have noticed a decline in sightings while wandering about. Maybe instead of Uber-Monarchs they called Lyft instead. Weird humor, I know…:rolleyes:
The northward migration takes several generations to complete. The southward migration is done by one generation, which lives longer than the other generations.
We had swallowtail caterpillars invade our bucket garden. (Didn’t know when they first showed up what type they were, but a little investigation revealed them as swallowtails.)
They ate all our dill.
To punish them, we planted more dill for them. Serves them right.
One morning, all the caterpillars were gone. We’re hoping they went off to metamorphose.
We live near the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago, incidentally. Swallowtails aren’t common around here, apparently.
The short answer is, because that’s how they evolved. The decline, to put it simply, is that they all go to a pine forest in Mexico, then come back across the Gulf to the Eastern US. They are victims of loss of habitat on both ends. In Mexico, one tree on the edge of the forest is chopped down and creates a corridor of cold air that can kill those roosting deeper in. On this end, we’re mowing down fields of milkweeds (the caterpillars only food source) so they can’t find anywhere to lay their eggs.
Look up pics of the Mexican wintering grounds, or imagine a Xmas tree absolutely blanketed in bright orange wings.
We used to visit the Butterfly Farm in St Martin every year, until Irma destroyed it. From what we learned there and elsewhere, we’ve planted much of our yard with plants designed to benefit butterfly populations.
One summer my gf had some coworkers over for tea. We walked out of the sunroom into the yard and there were dozens of butterflies. It was surreal; it looked like a Disney CGI effect, causing jaws to drop.
I shook my head and apologized, saying, “sorry about this, I should have sprayed this morning”. My gf got the joke but her friends were aghast.
I’ll never forget a few short years ago on a bright sunny mild October day, with a bright blue sky, here in upstate NY. I saw some monarchs fluttering around, unusual! … but driving down the road for some miles, I noticed a fluttering across the road, way up in the sky. Starting and stopping. I pulled over, and watched for an hour as a line of butterflies ambled on by…a short wait…followed by another small line…another wait…more butterflies. It was a migration, slow, sparse, but steady in progress. One of the most beautiful hours of my life… A pity that might be just a memory as the world climbs up its own stinking shithole and everything dies off.
