[leps-talk] Re: The Monarchs have recovered from last winter's big freeze in Mexico

[Paul Cherubini]

Royce Bitzer wrote:

> As far as roosting Monarchs are concerned, in previous years I
> would have been seeing dozens to hundreds in several important
> roosting tree groups on the Iowa State University campus on a typical
> evening.  Last night I saw a grand total of two.

In Aug / Sept. 2002 you did not see large clusters on the Iowa
State University Campus either, yet a normal number of monarchs
(8 hectares worth) http://www.saber.net/~monarch/mexicopopsize.jpg
arrived at the overwintering sites in Michoacan in Nov. 2002 indicating
the monarch population fully recovered from the devastating 75%
freeze related kill in Jan. 2002.   This same kind of late summer
recovery in the monarch population appears to be happening this
year as indicated by the large population of monarch larvae in the
fields of the upper Midwest right now:
http://www.saber.net/~monarch/larvae.JPG

> Also, Paul Cherubini's photos d) and e) strongly suggest that the
> Monarch populations this year aren't what they usually are.  Each
> shows  only a  single butterfly in a view replete with nectar plants.
> In most years,  scenes such as these in late August would show on
> the order of 10 to 20 butterflies nectaring within range of the camera.

Take a look at these photos that were taken within the past week:

Fairmont, MN:
http://www.saber.net/~monarch/mnmonarchs.JPG

near Buffalo Center, IA
http://www.saber.net/~monarch/liatris.jpg

Paul Cherubini

 
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