Has Anyone Seen Monarch Butterflies?

[Mike Griggs]

Monarch numbers have been very low in the Fingerlakes of NY for the last
three years.  I was very upset and scared about numbers last year until I
spent a day in Ontario county in September where at least 1000 migrating
butterflies past us in a single day.  

While this does not "fix" the reduction of numbers I have seen this year I
suspect that monarch populations can drift about doing well in regions for
perhaps 5-10 years and then moving to another.  

However!  I suspect the impact on the insects by eratic weather patterns,
reduction of overwintering and migration habitat may be affecting
populations.  NY has more woodlands today than ever since the early 1800's
the remainder is yards or dairy farms--not great for nectar foraging
inbsects.

Mike Griggs
Entomologist/ Support Scientist/Net Administrator FSNL
USDA ARS, U.S. Plant, Soil & Nutrition Lab.
Tower Road, Ithaca, NY  14853
http://www.ppru.cornell.edu/




In article <1998072701463800.VAA01986 at ladder03.news.aol.com>,
insects at aol.com (INSECTS) wrote:

>The numbers in NY are very low. We have not seen any larva,eggs or pupa. I'm
>not sure why this is the case. I hope this does not affect next years counts to
>much. We will check the migration in September to see if the numbers are low
>coming across the lake.
>
>   Sincerely,
>   Richard Parish
>   INSECTS at aol.com