"1000 miles of hell"

[Paul Cherubini]

Monarch Population Status
http://monarchwatch.org/blog/2011/09/monarch-population-status-12/
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011 at 1:25 pm by Chip Taylor

Excerpt: "The migration is just beginning to navigate a 1000
miles of hell - a nearly flowerless/nectarless and
waterless expanse of central KS, OK, TX and NE MX
(http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/)."

On Sept. 18-19 I drove around northwestern Oklahoma
and south-central Kansas (in the "hell" zone) and what I
saw did not match Dr. Taylor's frightening description.

I found a green or greenish-tan landscape with the
usual abundance of sunflowers and other nectar plants
one typically sees in Sept.  The milkweed also looked
normal and not severely water stressed.

Starting from Oklahoma City, I drove a roughly circular
route through the "hell" zone (exceptional drought zone)
of northwestern Oklahoma and south-central Kansas as
shown on this map:
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/new/hellzone.jpg

Here are some pictures and videos I took, all of which were
taken in the "hell" zone:

On Sept. 18 I drove north on I-35 from Oklahoma City
and often saw Asclepias viridis milkweed along the roadside.
I stopped at a few patches and found one plant with a 3rd
instar monarch caterpillar:
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/new/viridisa.jpg
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/new/viridisb.jpg

I also saw occassional stands of sunflower nectar plants like this:
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/new/sunflowersOKC.jpg

Along the eastern outskirts of Enid, Oklahoma the landscape
was still mostly green with sunflowers and lots of monarchs:
Still photo:
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/new/enida.jpg
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0chg-fzeKbU

10-15 miles north of Enid, Oklahoma along Hwy 81 there were
fields galore of sunflowers:
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LJV3ZMOJ5I
At one spot I found a monarch caterpillar in a patch
of latifolia milkweed that looked healthy and not water
stressed: Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzBh6m_CyjE

Now going west on hwy 64 about 5 miles before the town
of Nash, Oklahoma, I took this video of monarchs nectaring
on sunflowers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDwcTaI2Iak

Continuing west on hwy 64 one mile past Nash, OK I
saw large fields of sunflowers like this:
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/new/nash.jpg

Continuing west on hwy 64 two miles west of Jet, OK I
saw many monarchs nectaring on an unidentified flower:
Still photo:
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/new/jetb.jpg
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhrcyRD1ULA

Five miles west of Nash, still on hwy 64, I encountered this
huge field of alfalfa (cow feed) with numerous monarchs
nectaring in it: Still photo:
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/new/jetc.jpg

Six miles south of Cherokee, Oklahoma, at the intersection
of Hwy 64 and Hwy 8 I saw many monarchs nectaring on
sunflowers:
Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jHvnZ3WwzI

At the town of Burlington, Oklahoma I encountered yet another
huge field of alfalfa with numerous monarchs nectaring in it.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTnVIlbbNI4

Another nectar plant I saw from time to time in this
region was goldenrod:
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/new/kansasa.jpg

The next morning (Sept. 19) in the town of Alva, Oklahoma,
I observed monarchs migrating east and southeastward at
the rate of 1-5 per minute which indicates they were abundant
in this northwest region of the State:
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1J1_GEtFx4

Driving south from Alva along hwy 281 I observed nectar
flowers from time to time and stopped to take this video
of many bees on the flowers which shows the flowers were
producing nectar despite the drought:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9bI4mIZIWg

Sunflowers became increasingly abundant like this:
Still photos:
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/new/sunalva.jpg
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/new/signwaynoka.jpg
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/new/waysun.jpg

Some people think these sunflowers look "stunted" from
the drought and may not be producing much nectar.  So I took
held the video camera up close to the flowers and observed
several insects were indeed gathering nectar or pollen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlMaaEWye_k

Along the eastern outskirts of Waynoka, Oklahoma I
encountered still more sunflowers plus a huge field of alfalfa:
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfN4gkCieWU
Although flowering alfalfa is a powerful attractor for migrant
monarchs, relatively few monarchs were seen nectaring in
this field which I think suggests the migrants were not hungry
enough to be distracted from their high altitude (soaring)
migratory flight (a northwest wind that day caused most of
the monarchs to go into high altitude soaring mode).

I checked into a motel in Watonga, Oklahoma and then drove
around town and from time to time saw fields of nectar
plants with monarchs on them like this: Still photo:
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/new/watonga.jpg
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_apsQSKfzU

My conclusions from this trip:

1) Despite the drought, the supply of available nectar plants
in the "hell" zone is vastly greater than the number of
monarchs hence the monarchs are not having a hard time
locating nectar plants nor are they drinking the plants
dry of nectar.

2) In the "hell" zone the monarchs are in migratory mode
for most of the day rather than in feeding mode which further
suggests they are not seriously nutritionally stressed.  A
nutritionally stressed monarch will be preocupied with
feeding as all experience monarch breeders and handlers
know.

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.

 
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