May 15, 2001 Dear Students, The first monarchs have now crossed into Canada! The first butterfly was sighted on May 2nd near Windsor, Ontario on a peninsula in Lake Erie, Canada's southernmost tip (42 N, 82 W). When did you predict the first monarchs would cross the Canadian border? Did you predict that Ontario would be the first Canadian province where they would arrive? However, very, very few monarchs are in Canada yet. In fact, the millions of Monarch Butterflies that spent the winter in your mountain sanctuaries are probably dying now. It is their children that will continue the migration, and it will take until mid-June for them to spread across the northern U.S. and Canada. The butterflies that spent the winter in Mexico lived for a long, long time! Their lives began last August, at the same time your school year began. They flew all the way to Mexico from the U.S. and Canada. They survived the winter months in Mexico, with hardly any food. And they survived another migration back to the north. However, most of the monarchs from Mexico only travel to about 40N latitude, laying eggs as they travel. Then they do not live any longer--or go any farther. Instead, when the eggs hatch the children will continue the migration further north. How long did the butterflies from Mexico live? Let's use this example to see: Question of the Week (May 14th): If a butterfly was born last August 25, 2000, how many days had the butterfly been alive as of April 25, 2001? For how many weeks? And for how many months" Question and Answer of the Week (May 1st) Question: Why do you think the monarchs are only migrating to the eastern U.S. states, and not in states like Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana? Answer: The monarchs from Mexico only travel to the eastern U.S. states and Canada because the Rocky Mountains form a barrier in the west. Milkweed is not abundant above 1000 meters elevation, so the monarchs do not breed in the Rocky Mountain states. Did you know that there are also monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains? Those monarchs migrate to the California coast for the winter; they do not travel to Mexico. The western monarchs migrate to 300 colonies spread along the California coast. The California colonies are very small, and not nearly as famous or spectacular as those in Mexico. This week's migration data: Date City State/Province Latitude Longitude 14 May Chaska Minnesota 44.8 93.6 14 May Des Moines Iowa 41.6 93.6 14 May Hutchinson Minnesota 44.9 94.4 13 May Sioux Falls South Dakota 43.5 96.7 13 May Tecumseh Kansas 39.0 95.5 13 May Marietta Pennsylvania 40.1 76.6 13 May West Carthage New York 44.0 75.6 13 May Somerset Wisconsin 45.1 92.7 12 May Victoria Minnesota 44.9 93.7 12 May Seymour Indiana 38.9 85.9 12 May Olds Iowa 41.1 91.5 11 May Orrville Ohio 40.9 81.8 11 May Bellevue Nebraska 41.1 95.9 10 May Bloomington Indiana 39.1 86.5 10 May Elk City Kansas 37.3 95.9 10 May Coal Valley Illinois 41.4 90.5 9 May Overland Park Kansas 39.0 94.7 9 May Weeping Water Nebraska 40.9 96.2 9 May Sewaren New Jersey 40.6 74.3 8 May Chicopee Massachusetts 42.1 72.6 7 May Washington Iowa 41.3 91.7 6 May Mequon Wisconsin 43.2 88.0 5 May Youngstown Ohio 41.1 80.6 4 May Benton Pennsylvania 41.3 76.3 4 May Toledo Ohio 41.6 83.5 2 May Point Pelee Ontario 41.6 82.3 29 April Salem New Hampshire 42.8 71.2 29 April New York New York 40.8 74.0 Here are comments from some of the observers: 05/01/01 Marlboro, NJ (40.31N, -74.25W) "Our students saw 2 adult monarchs during gym class yesterday! It is amazing that middle school aged children could get so excited about butterflies. The announcement of the sighting spread throughout the building." 05/02/01 St. Louis, MO (38.63N, -90.19W) "I saw a Monarch. It was a male and it was flying around all over the playground at my school. It stayed for the whole recess, about 15 minutes. It was sunny and a bit breezy." 05/04/01 Bridgewater, NJ (40.59N, -74.62W) "It was amazing to see the Monarch fly past me. It happened when I was playing outside. It moved right past my nose! The colors were very easy to see because they were so bright. Soon it landed on my flowers. I was glad that they made it to New Jersey. safe and sound." El proximo informe de la migracion de la mariposa monarca sera enviada el 29 de May