Your Sightings! >>
Today's Report Includes:
- The Migration: Maps, Questions and Highlights
- Challenge Question #8: What Have They Survived?
- Spotlight: Studying Milkweed and Migration
A Monarch Egg
Describe it!
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| Tip: To see week-by-week changes in the migration, select date in column to left of map. >> |
Map Questions >> |
| Highlights: Migration Now in Five States, Stop and Go | ||||
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It looked like fall migration along the Texas Gulf Coast late last week there were so many monarchs! Unusually high numbers were reported from points stretching 250 miles along the Texas Gulf Coast, from South Padre Island to Galveston. On Thursday, Harlen Aschen saw 32 monarchs in two hours mid-Coast, and Vivian Carroll reported a spring roost in Galveston. It's rare to see monarchs roosting in the spring and this roost even included mated pairs. The ‘stop and go’ nature of monarch migration was evident as the week continued. Watch the animation and compare this week to last. "Welcome monarchs!", exclaimed Linda Schemmer when she saw her first monarch of spring nectaring on dandelions in Kingfisher, Oklahoma on Wednesday. At latitude 35N, hers is our northernmost monarch to date. The migration has now reached five states and in this order: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Each time the migration enters a new state or province we'll announce it. Make your predictions and record the results on this Prediction Chart! |
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Compare the sizes of the spring and fall roosts in Galveston, Texas, in the photos above. The monarchs that are alive today are survivors! These are the monarchs that will pass their genes to the next generation.
Question: How many risks can you name that the monarchs alive today have survived? Think back to the beginning of these butterflies' lives last summer. Name everything you can imagine — and send us your list!
To Respond: Write in your journal and send us your answer for possible inclusion in next week's update.
Answer to last week's
Challenge Question #7 >>
“Milkweed has been almost nonexistent,” reported Carol Cullar from Eagle Pass in western Texas. "We are in a severe drought so spring vegetation is tardy in making its appearance," wrote Ronald Hood from Tarpley, TX.
- How closely do monarchs follow after milkweed becomes available in the spring?
Dr. Lincoln Brower explains why this question is important: "By collecting spring migration and milkweed data, we should definitively answer the important question of whether monarchs are prematurely getting north of their milkweed food source in the spring."
| Please watch for milkweed and report your sightings! >> | ||
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| Milkweed Map/Sightings | Freshly sprouted milkweed in Tarpley, Texas. | Much of western Texas has drought conditions. >> |
- Predicting: Predicting the Route of the Spring Migration >>
- Writing: Keep a Spring Monarch Butterfly Migration Journal >>
- Analyzing Migration Maps: Watch Your Language! >>
- Reading Strategy: Summarize Information >>
- Overview: About the Monarch Butterfly Spring Migration >>
- Mapping—Key Lessons & Resources: Making, Reading and Interpreting Maps >>
- Monarchs for Kids (booklets, photos, videos) >>
The Next Monarch Migration Update Will Be Posted on April 3, 2008.
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