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Posts Tagged: monarchs
Not Good News on the Monarch Front
The dwindling number of monarchs overwintering along the California coast is of great concern. This just in from entomologist and migratory monarch researcher David James, an associate professor at Washington State University, who maintains a...
Overwintering monarchs clustering in an 80-foot-high eucalyptus tree at the Natural Bridges State Park butterfly sanctuary, Santa Cruz on Dec. 30, 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
What's a Group of Butterflies Called?
What's a group of butterflies called? A kaleidoscope, swarm, or rabble. If you've ever had a kaleidoscope in your childhood and admired the swirling colors and patterns, you know that's an appropriate name. But even one monarch...
Migratory monarchs in a Vacaville pollinator garden filled with Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifola). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Migratory monarchs in flight over a patch of Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifola) in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Zinnia Nectar: Flight Fuel for the Migratory Monarchs
Zinnias are a great nectar source for migratory monarch butterflies as they wing their way to their overwintering spots along coastal California. How much do monarchs love zinnias? So much that sometimes a monarch will touch down on a zinnia...
A migratory monarch butterfly nectaring on a pink zinnia in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A migratory monarch sipping her fill of nectar from a zinnia in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Wings Up! Let's Go!
Wings up! Let's go! The monarch fall migration is underway. "Unlike most other insects in temperate climates, monarch butterflies cannot survive a long cold winter. Instead, they spend the winter in roosting spots," explains Monarch Watch....
A monarch butterfly gliding over a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola on Sept. 17 in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Revisiting the Issue of Monarch Butterflies Missing from California Classrooms
A monarch butterfly caterpillar goes through five stages or instars before it J's and becomes a jade-green chrysalis. Scientists estimate that only 10 percent of the eggs and 'cats survive to adulthood. They don't "survive" at all in...
A monarch caterpillar crawling on a milkweed leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male monarch butterfly foraging on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifola) in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatle Garvey)
