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| Many monarchs were seen this winter near Charleston, South Carolina. | Satellite image with location of Charleston, SC marked. | Close-up view of the section of the coast where monarchs were sighted this winter. |
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February 22, 2008
Contributed
by Bill McCord
Wildlife Biologist, Marine Resources Division
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
Tagged
Monarchs Give Clues About Winter Survival
We have had a very mild winter so far this season, and the wintering
monarchs along the immediate coast have been pretty active. I think most
of the monarchs that are seen along the South Carolina coast after mid-November
likely winter (or attempt to winter) here.
I have tagged 54 monarchs since mid-November. (Of these, 10 were from larvae that I rescued from my garden just prior to freezing nights in late December and early January.) In addition to the monarchs I tagged this winter, I have made many additional, unrecorded monarch observations. I probably saw one or two butterflies on at least 8-10 additional days on which I did no tagging, primarily at Ft. Johnson. I was a bit surprised that I recovered a tagged monarch (#JNN420) that I reared from a wild larva and released on 21 Jan. I recovered the butterfly 16 days after its release, on 6 February.
Mild
Winter Supported Monarch Survival?
I
have released several dozen reared monarchs in mid-winter over the past
several seasons, but I have not previously recovered any such butterflies.
I assumed that such monarchs were not well-suited for winter survival
since they did not have sufficient opportunity for nectaring and deposition
of fat reserves. Perhaps this winter has been mild enough that winter-emerging
monarchs have been active enough to find sufficient nectar to fuel their
winter stay.
Evidence
of Monarchs Breeding During Winter Months?
One of the monarchs that I tagged at Folly Beach on 17 Feb (#JNN434)
was in excellent condition, indicating that it may have emerged from its
chrysalis within the preceding 6 weeks or less. Most
of the winter monarchs that I observe and/or tag are washed-out and at
least slightly tattered.
Cold
Temperatures Kill Tagged Monarch?
We
have had only a few hard freeze nights (22-28 degrees F) in the Charleston
area (pretty much the entire SC coast) this winter. The monarch (tag #JNN409)
that was recovered dead at Ft. Johnson was found a few days after two
nights of sub-freezing temperature.
Large
Numbers of Monarchs Noted in February
A co-worker said that she had seen 30+ monarchs at Botany Bay Plantation,
Edisto Island, Charleston County, on two dates in Feb (7th and 20th) and
15-20 monarchs at the same site on 26 Feb. The butterflies were flitting
about and nectaring in an agricultural field that had a large coverage
(several acres) of Winter-cress (Barbarea verna). Botany Bay is very near
the Atlantic and surrounded by tidal marshlands – a perfect area
for wintering monarchs.
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