Monarchs

RChyinski at aol.com RChyinski at aol.com
Mon Aug 8 17:20:54 EDT 2005


The latest report from Monarch Watch is that the Monarch population in the  
U.S. is recovering. Their estimation of next years over wintering population is 
 that it will be below average but well above last years population record 
low  population.
>From what I have seen here in Ct and in NJ and from the reports on  this site 
it is encouraging. 
Today in Essex I saw 10-12 Monarchs and have seen Monarchs just about every  
time I have been out in the field. 
The one concern I have is the lack of rain. Many of the Milkweed  plants in 
my area are showing signs of the drought. Over the weekend I saw  2 Monarchs 
ovipositing eggs on the seed pods and not on the leaves, which were  starting to 
curl from lack of water. Not sure if the Monarchs recognized this  and 
deposited the eggs on the seed pods which were greener than the leaves. Can  a 
butterfly determine that a leaf is not healthy and thus not good a place  to 
deposit her eggs?
At this point it looks we will have a good migrating population and  
hopefully we will be able to tag more than the 100 that were tagged last  year.
 
Rich Chyinski
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