- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
This just in from entomologist and migratory monarch researcher David James, an associate professor at Washington State University, who maintains a Facebook page, "Monarch Butterflies in the Pacific Northwest":
"October gave us mostly good weather in the PNW for monarchs migrating south and the last one was seen in Washington just a few days ago (26th). Sadly though, the number of sightings (17) was way down from October 2023 (40). This follows the downward spiral of the number of monarch sightings that I first reported in August. In June and July, numbers were up by nearly 70%! Curiously, something happened during the development of eggs, larvae and pupae of the migratory generation that reduced the population substantially. The number of sightings was down by 34% in August, 48% in September and 42% in October, compared to the respective months in 2023."
"While high temperatures occurred in many parts of the PNW in August," James shared, "they were not as high as in July when monarch sightings were common. PNW summer temperatures this year were not as high or as prolonged as during the heat dome event in late June 2021 which had no discernible impact on monarch sightings or the 2021/22 overwintering number which was substantially higher than the previous winter. Instead of climate, my guess is that the natural enemy community (or part of it) affecting immature stages of monarchs had a very favorable summer and caused greater than normal mortality to the monarch population."
On Oct. 1, James predicted an overwintering population in California of 112,000, half of the total in 2023. "I now believe the number this winter will be below 100,000, perhaps back to the levels we saw in 2018 and 2019 (around 30,000 butterflies). This will be disappointing for sure, but we know how resilient the monarch is and we know there will be a rebound in the future."
He mentioned that a tagged male monarch released Sept. 7 from the Elkton Community Education Center in southern Oregon was found Oct. 17 nectaring in Santa Barbara, "a record so far this year for the longest distance flown....over 38 days, this monarch flew a remarkable 670 miles! Not a record migration flight for a western monarch (that goes to a monarch that flew 840 miles from Seattle to Pismo Beach in 2017), but highly impressive, nevertheless. Not least for being able to avoid or overcome all the hazards it no doubt met en route. Think traffic, predators, pesticides and bad weather. H2864 is a survivor, at least so far. He still has the winter to endure of course but he is off to a flying start! Thanks to Elkton CEC for rearing another tough monarch and to Joe Brazil for reporting it and taking the photos."
We remember the WSU-tagged monarch that fluttered into our garden in Vacaville,Calif., from Ashland, Ore., on Sept. 5, 2016. Citizen scientist Steven Johnson of Ashland, Ore. tagged it A6093 on Aug. 28.
"So, assuming it didn't travel much on the day you saw it, it flew 285 miles in 7 days or about 40.7 miles per day," James told us. "Clearly this male is on his way to an overwintering colony and it's possible we may sight him again during the winter in Santa Cruz or Pacific Grove!”
They didn't.
However, migratory monarchs continue to stop for flight fuel on our Tithonia every year, usually from late August through September and October. Sometimes we see two or three a day. How many tagged ones since 2016? Zero. Zilch. Nada.
James' tagging program research, launched in 2012, confirms that most of the PNW monarchs migrate to the California coast for overwintering. "However, we have occasionally had evidence that migrating monarchs in eastern parts of the PNW (e.g. far eastern Washington and Idaho) do not always head southwest to California," he wrote. "Our latest tag recovery is an example of this. A monarch tagged on September 21 virtually on the state border between WA and ID near Spokane, was found on October 15 in the mountain town of West Yellowstone in Montana. This is 373 miles southeast from where the butterfly was released and she was clearly not looking to spend her winter on the California coast!
"Other tagged monarchs from far eastern areas of the PNW have also traveled southeast but this is the first one found in the Rocky Mountains at almost 7000 feet," he pointed out. "We assumed migrants southeast from Idaho would fly south down the western side of the Rockies, but this one looks like it was trying to cross them. Sadly, this one was found dead but she has contributed another data point to our efforts to unravel this migration mystery. We suspect that these SE-orienting migrants may end up in Mexico. Hopefully, future recoveries of tagged monarchs from Idaho will help us answer this question. We thank Patrick Adair for spear-heading the tagging efforts in Idaho and working tirelessly for monarchs and their conservation through his non-profit Wings Rising Inc. We also thank Peggie Scott for finding the butterfly and taking the photograph."
Wings up.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
On Sept. 6, 2016, it happened.
A monarch fluttered into our pollinator garden in Vacaville and touched down on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola.
It wasn't just "any ol' monarch"--if there's ever such a thing as "any ol' monarch."
This one, tagged with my alma mater, Washington State University, came from Ashland, Ore., as part of a migratory monarch research project launched by entomologist David James.
The tag's serial number read “Monarch@wsu.edu A6093.” It hung around for about five hours and then left.
James, an associate professor at Washington State University, studies the migration routes and overwintering sites of the Pacific Northwest Monarch population, which overwinter primarily in coastal California. (Access his Facebook page, Monarch Butterflies in the Pacific Northwest, for his latest research.)
When we emailed him, we learned that citizen scientist Steven Johnson of Ashland tagged and released the monarch on Sunday, Aug. 28.
"So, assuming it didn't travel much on the day you saw it, it flew 285 miles in 7 days or about 40.7 miles per day," James told us. "Pretty amazing. So, I doubt he broke his journey for much more than the five hours you watched him--he could be 100 miles further south by now."
Repeat: 285 miles in 7 days, or 40.7 miles per day. Incredible.
Fast forward to today. It's the anniversary of the sighting of A6093.
Any sightings today? Not. A. Single. One.
And not a single sighting of a tagged monarch since Sept. 6, 2016.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Scientists estimate that only 10 percent of the eggs and 'cats survive to adulthood.
They don't "survive" at all in California classrooms.
California classrooms used to showcase the metamorphosis of the monarch--from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to adult-- but no more. If you live in California, you're not allowed to collect or rear monarchs without a scientific permit. And scientific permits are difficult to obtain.
According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife: "A Scientific Collecting Permit (SCP) is required to handle wild monarchs in California including for educational purposes. It is unlawful to collect, remove from the wild and/or captively rear monarchs in California without an SCP, per California Code of Regulations (CCR), Title 14, section 650.
Admire them in the wild, but legally, you can't collect or rear them.
As a child growing up in the San Jose area, entomologist Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, "raised and released many, many dozens of monarchs, as most empty lots were filled with vast stands of narrow-leaf milkweed, and we could easily gather caterpillars and keep them fed and healthy until they matured. This was an extraordinary thing to be able to watch--the final instar of the larva molting to change to the beautiful chrysalis and then seeing the butterfly develop within the chrysalis and hatch. We would hold it on our finger as the wings expanded and, finally, the butterfly flew away."
The Bohart Museum has some seven drawers of monarch specimens. "With around 60 specimens per drawer that could amount to nearly 400 plus specimens (some drawers are not full," he said. The collection also includes nearly-white monarch specimens from Hawaii.
In their book, The Lives of Butterflies: A Natural History of Our Planet's Butterfly Life (Princeton University Press, 2024), authors David James and David Lohman point out that "...our children are the future and it is they who will determine the future of butterflies. If a child finds a caterpillar, let them keep it, feed it, and watch it metamorphose.They will remember the experience for the rest of their life, and it will instill in them a love and appreciation for lives smaller than their own."
James is an entomologist and associate professor at Washington State University who researches migratory monarchs, and Lohman is a biologist, professor and department chair, City College of New York.
“It is important that we do not try to excessively regulate to conserve butterfly populations," they wrote. "We need people to be part of the process and be the power on the ground behind conservation programs.”
They quote Lincoln Brower (1931-2018), a renowned Lepidopterist educated at Princeton and Yale universities: “Butterflies are treasures, like great works of art. Should we not value them as much as the beauty of Picasso's art or the music of Mozart or the Beatles?"
Robert Michael Pyle, founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and colleague David L. Wagner, advocated "Keep Nets in the Hands of Kids--and Others" in a piece in the fall edition of the Lepidopterists' Society newsletter. They asked:
"Is the coup de grace for children's face-to-face fascination with small-scale life to be delivered now by well-intentioned but ill-considered regulation?"
Smith declared that the regulation will not "help" with the conservation of monarchs, and that he hopes it will be reversed or modified.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Brower quote appears in a newly published book authored by two renowned scientists who research butterflies. The book, an introduction to butterflies of the world, is a “must-have” on your bookshelf.
The book: The Lives of Butterflies: A Natural History of Our Planet's Butterfly Life
The authors: Entomologist David James, associate professor, Washington State University and biologist David Lohman, professor and department chair, the City College of New York.
The publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: (U.S.) Jan. 9, 2024.
This 288-page book includes eight chapters: Introduction, Life Histories, Habitats and Resources, Butterfly Populations, Butterfly Seasonality, Defense and Natural Enemies, and Threats and Conservation. The close-up images, many by James, spring to life and really confirm their description of butterflies as the "colorful ambassadors of the world."
This is an easy-to-read, fascinating book, complete with a glossary, a list of butterfly families and resources, and, of course, an index.
Some tidbits. Did you know that:
- To date, scientists have described some 19,500 species of butterflies throughout the world?
- Scales give butterflies their color? “The colors of each butterfly have evolved to promote protection to the species from predators and to enable the sexes to find and recognize each other,” they write.
- Butterflies are classified into seven families based on their evolutionary history? And that each family shares physical, behavioral, and ecological features, including body structure, wing characteristics (venation, patterning, and color), host plants, and flight?
- The survival rate of eggs, caterpillars, pupae (chrysalids) is less than 10 percent? What you see are the survivors who have “escaped predation, parasitism, disease and death from unfavorable environmental conditions, including excessive heat, drought, cold, storms, and food shortages,” they relate.
Butterflies, it seems, are also the equivalent of the proverbial “canary in the coal mine,” an early warning of danger in the ecosystem. Take the issue of the declining population of monarchs. Quoting statistics from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, James and Lohman point out that monarchs have declined by 80 to 90 percent during the past two decades. The decline, they write, "is caused by a combination of habitat loss, pesticide use, and a warming climate.”
If you live in California, you're not allowed to collect or rear monarchs without a scientific permit.
According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife: "A Scientific Collecting Permit (SCP) is required to handle wild monarchs in California including for educational purposes. It is unlawful to collect, remove from the wild and/or captively rear monarchs in California without an SCP, per California Code of Regulations (CCR), Title 14, section 650.
But the metamorphosis of a butterfly--from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to adult--is nothing short of magical. As the authors so succinctly point out: "...our children are the future and it is they who will determine the future of butterflies. If a child finds a caterpillar, let them keep it, feed it, and watch it metamorphose.They will remember the experience for the rest of their life, and it will instill in them a love and appreciation for lives smaller than their own."
They add: “It is important that we do not try to excessively regulate to conserve butterfly populations. We need people to be part of the process and be the power on the ground behind conservation programs.”
The book could have easily been called "The Joy of Butterflies." Butterflies fluttering around the garden on a sunburst day, sipping nectar, and then laying eggs on their host plant, bring us great joy. We marvel at the magic, the miracle of it all.
This book is a great introduction to the lives of butterflies. You'll learn more about their life histories, their habitats, their seasonality, their defensive mechanisms, and what we can do to conserve "the colorful ambassadors of the insect world."
About the authors. James also co-authored Life Histories of Cascadia Butterflies and served as a consultant editor on The Book of Caterpillars. He completed his doctorate on the winter biology of Monarch butterflies and has published more than 200 scientific papers "on a wide range of entomological subjects," the publisher notes. Lohman, in addition to being a professor and department chair, the City College of New York, is a visiting scientist at the American Museum of Natural History, and a research associate at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University and at the National Museum of Natural History in Manila. His research focuses on butterflies in Southeast Asia and the ecology, evolution, and conservation of biodiversity.
Their passion for butterflies, coupled with their exemplary research, shows.
Wings up!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It lived--and quite hidden at that--through the freezing cold, the rain, and the wind. It surfaced today on a milkweed in our Vacaville pollinator garden.
Surprise, surprise! We neither saw it as an egg nor as a tiny caterpillar.
"Most larval mortality in monarchs occurs in the first 2 or 3 instars.. so they keep as hidden and low-key as possible," entomologist David James, an associate professor at Washington State University, told us. "Once they make it to the fourth instar, they are emboldened and are more likely to be seen exposed."
James, who studies migratory monarchs, earlier commented on the fall breeding: "The egg laying females you are seeing now are likely migrants that have eschewed reproductive dormancy for reproduction. This has probably always happened to some extent but is likely more significant now because of warmer falls. The lack of activity in summer in Vacaville was probably a function of most of the population having dispersed further east and north, maybe more than usual? They surely did pass through Vacaville in spring on their way north but clearly didnt stop to use your milkweeds. It does seem that some years they are more prone to frequent stopping/oviposition on their way north and east, yet in others they just keep flying. There's evidence that the latter was the case this year... with as many migrants making it to BC as to Washington...Normally they stop in Washington and only a handful make it to BC."
James is the author of a newly published book, The Lives of Butterflies: A Natural History of Our Planet's Butterfly Life (Princeton University) with colleague David Lohman of the City College of New York. The book, released in the UK on Oct. 3, 2023, will be available in the United States starting Jan. 9, 2024.
Irish scientist Éanna Ní Lamhna recently interviewed the WSU entomologist in a podcast on RTÉ, or Raidió Teilifís Éireann. The book, Lamhna said, "showcases extraordinary diversity of world's butterflies, while exploring their life histories, behavior, conservation and other aspects of these most fascinating and beguiling insects." (See Bug Squad blog). Listen to the butterfly podcast here:
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22294525/
Meanwhile, we checked another milkweed plant in the garden today and spotted another caterpillar, this one a little smaller and less active than the first.
As UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, commented: "So much for diapause!"
Now our milkweed garden includes scores of hungry aphids, several species of milkweed, two 'cats, and maybe three (one 'cat went missing and is probably j'ing somewhere) and four chrysalids.
Will we have a Merry Chrysalis?
