The Monarchs have recovered from last winter's big freeze in Mexico

[Robert Dana]

There's an old saying "a few swallows do not a summer make". I have no
reason to doubt that the North American monarch population will rebound,
but it seems a bit premature to proclaim this has happened on the basis
of the small numbers in the posted photos (by the way, Gaylord, MN, was
the town in which a large number of aggregated monarchs were killed by
spraying for mosquitoes, was it last year?). From what I have seen
myself, and from what I have been hearing from others around this
region, monarch production was exceptionally low this summer. If this
turns out to be correct, it is most likely the result of unusual weather
(much cooler than normal). I have noticed many other insects seem to be
much scarcer than usual. I don't know how widespread this apparent
phenomenon is.

What have others been seeing?

Robert 

*************************************************************
Robert Dana, Ph.D.
MN DNR
Natural Heritage and Nongame Research Program
500 Lafayette Rd, Box 25
St. Paul, MN 55155
651 297-2367
Email: robert.dana at dnr.state.mn.us
*************************************************************

>>> Paul Cherubini <monarch at saber.net> 8/27/04 3:00:44 AM >>>
In the past, the monarchs have always quickly recovered from big 
winter kills and this past summer has been no exception.  Here are 
some picturesI took during a recent trip to the upper Midwest (in 
the heart of YieldGard Bt corn and Roundup Ready Corn & 
Soybean Country):

http://www.saber.net/~monarch/2004a.jpg 

http://www.saber.net/~monarch/2004b.jpg 

http://www.saber.net/~monarch/2004c.jpg 

http://www.saber.net/~monarch/2004d.jpg 

http://www.saber.net/~monarch/2005e.jpg 

http://www.saber.net/~monarch/2004f.jpg 

http://www.saber.net/~monarch/2004g.jpg 

So the size of the monarch migration headed to Mexico this coming 
fall should be pretty close to normal.

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.

 
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