where are all the Monarchs?

[Mark Walker]

	sebrez at webtv.net wrote:

> Not sure about this but as a guess, I think because there was such a
> warm early spring the milkweed leaves were to mature for the young
> caterpillars to eat. Is this a possibility?
> 
	I think it's safe to say that the bizarre weather patterns this past
year had a significant impact on most butterfly populations.  The monarch
activity was very slow in northern New England, although it did pick up
reasonably well during the late summer (which is for the most part over by
September).  It picked up, but nowhere near the numbers we had been seeing
over the last few seasons.  We had a relatively early spring there - a bit
cool - but with the mild winter we had, the ground plants grew very fast.  I
noticed many of the milkweed seed pods maturing very early, and many of the
plants dying back, before the Monarchs started showing up (curiously late -
bad gulf weather?).

	During my travels across the U.S. last summer, I noted very low
Monarch numbers everywhere that I went.  These picked up considerably the
farther south that I traveled and the later in the season I traveled.

	It will be particularly interesting to see what the activity will be
in the various overwintering spots, as well as the numbers that we see
moving northward next spring.  Of course, all of this can be further
impacted by more strange weather patterns (which I think we can count on).

	I was up in Cambria, CA over the US Thanksgiving weekend holiday (a
favorite Monarch overwintering spot), and I did see a considerable number of
Monarchs flying about when the weather was favorable.  The area can become
inundated at times, but that is not an annual phenomenon.

	Anyone else out there in winter Monarch country have anything to
report?

	Mark Walker 
	Mission Viejo, CA
>