monarch numbers

[Richard L. Brown]

  The Bon Secour Peninsula in Alabama (west of Gulf Shores) is about 
20 miles long and has undergone rapid real estate development in the 
last 25 years (since Hurricane Camille).  The same has occurred on 
the Florida coast.  Ten years ago there were no multi-storied 
condominiums on the peninsula past the Gulf Shores city limit.  Now, 
they are interspersed with golf courses all the way to Fort Morgan at 
the western end.  Most of the remaining natural dunes habitat is now 
in the Bon Secour N.W. Refuge or in private hands awaiting the 
highest bid for development.  The flowering peak of the dunes occurs 
in mid-October during the peak of monarch migration. When visiting 
the refuge last year during October, the monarchs were roosting on 
and completely covering the low growing oaks and shrubs on the 
barrier dunes, about 2-300 yards inland from the water.  This appears 
to be the last fueling station before heading across the Gulf.  I 
suspect that the impacts of this recent and continuing habitat loss 
on monarch roosting and feeding areas on the Gulf Coast have not been 
fully realized.
-- 
Richard L. Brown
Mississippi Entomological Museum
Box 9775
Mississippi State,  MS 39762
PH: 662-325-2085
FAX: 662-325-8837