Monarch sightings continued to arrive this week. As the migration progresses through the U.S. Gulf states, please help by spreading the word to people in that region. We hope to receive as many sightings as possible!
Wanted: Monarch Butterfly Sightings As you search for the most wanted butterfly this spring, beware of an imposter! There's another butterfly out there that's disguised as a monarch. It's real name is the viceroy. (Don't worry, it's not armed and dangerous to predators as monarchs are.) Pull out your field guide to butterflies and make sure you can tell the difference. Place a call to your local nature center and find out when viceroys first appear in your region. Then answer these challenge questions:
CHALLENGE QUESTIONS: 1) Where do viceroy butterflies spend the winter? 2) Why do viceroys "mimic" monarchs?
Monarchs Reported This Week:
Date Place of Sighting
March 5 Galveston, Texas March 18 Galveston, Texas March 25 Houston, Texas March 29 Columbia, South Carolina March 31 Garland, Texas April 1 Galveston, Texas April 2 Needville, Texas
March 5 & March 18 I saw a monarch butterfly in Galveston, Texas (29N 95W) on March 5 and several we blown against the seawall on March 18 and were dead. We are gooing camping at the state park this weekend and I will check out the situation. Caleb Ruthstrom 7th grade laurar@tenet.edu.
March 25 I just read your message on Dillo thru tenet. We noticed monarchs in our yard for the first time this spring on Saturday, March 25. They were attracted to the butterfly weeds (asclepias) that are blooming. We also had hummingbirds going after the salvias. I was a bit surprised because I thought I remembered them coming later in the spring. Perhaps they are here because we had a very mild winter, no freeze at all, and there are many plants flowering. Katie Wagner Houston, Texas approx. 29 degrees north and around 92 degrees west kwagner@tenet.edu
March 29 Hello Monarch watchers, I have several students who say they have seen monarchs around ponds and lakes in our rural area in South Carolina. I have been unable to conform these sightings, but with 8 or 9 reliable students reporting, I feel I should share this with everyone.We are located at 81W, 33.7N in a small rural school district 25 miles from South Carolina's state capital of Columbia. All of our dogwoods, azaleas, & iris are in glorious bloom with temps in the 60's, 70's and 80's. It is truly a beautiful spring! Cherlyn Anderson and three seventh grade science classes at Monroe Pinckney Middle School Swansea, South Carolina Cherlyn_G._Anderson@scetv.pbs.org
March 31 A monarch was sighted in Garland, Texas on Friday, March 31. Janiece Loveland, Computer Lab Manager at Freeman Elementary School in Garland, saw the butterfly in her yard. From: Judy Allen <joallen@tenet.edu>
April 1 It's a beautiful day on Galveston Bay -- the clouds that have been bring rain for the past week cleared out, and the tide is high, washing well back into the marshes. I wandered out today to see what I could find, and the monarch butterflies are everywhere. They are by far the most common butterfly in the area and I saw dozens of them fluttering about. I don't know how many are just in from Mexico and how many have wintered over: This is our third mild winter in a row and I would guess that a lot of them just hung around and took it easy this winter. The robins seem all to be gone north. Donald Perkins dperkins@chico.rice.edu
April 1 Saw Monarch again at Galveston State Park on Saturday. Closest city Pirates Cove. Just outside Galveston, Texas. Laura Ruthstrom laurar@tenet.edu
April 2 The sighting was actually in the Brazos Bend State Park which is listed in Needville, Texas. It is about 20 miles southwest of Houston off Highway 59. We stayed in the park Friday and Saturday night and saw what was most likely Monarchs every day. It was Sunday however before we were able to capture one and positively identify it as a female monarch. We are looking forward to participating in the program. Don Grooms, Christian School of God (Homeschool) Houston, Texas groomsd@tenet.edu
Monarch Migration in Texas Dr. Bill Calvert, who is studying monarch migration through Texas, reports that monarchs have deposited eggs on milkweed throughout the prairie region of that state. On Wednesday, March 29th in Luling, Texas they counted 500 milkweed plants per acre and monarch eggs were found on every other stem!
Sixty Million Minus Many No one knows how many of the sixty million monarchs that wintered in Mexico remain alive. We do know that they've been in a reproductive state since early March and are not expected to live more than 4-6 weeks from that time. Therefore, by the end of this month the over-wintering generation will be gone.
One of the exciting aspects of this study is a chance to shed light this question: How far north does the first monarch generation travel? Dr. Lincoln Brower, a renown monarch butterfly scientist from the Univeristy of Florida, theorizes that it takes two monarchs generations to repopulate eastern North America. His research demonstrated that the over-wintering generation travels to the U.S. Gulf states, reproduces, and their offspring continue the migration to points further north. His research demonstrated this in a very clever way based on these facts:
1) Monarch caterpillars eat only milkweed. 2) Monarchs' bodies contain unique chemicals from the milkweed species upon which they fed as caterpillars. 3) Different species of milkweed occur in southern and northern parts of North America.
He analyzed butterflies and found that they did in fact contain chemicals from the exact geographical regions he suspected they would: Monarchs that wintered in the Mexican colonies contained chemicals from milkweed species of the northern U.S. states. (This means that the monarchs alive today are from northern North America.) Similarly monarchs that returned to the northern U.S. states the following spring contained chemicals found in milkweed species of the southern U.S. states! (These would be the offspring of the butterflies alive right now. When today's eggs hatch the caterpillars will eat southern milkweed species. They will then develop into adults and fly north.)
Students Await Monarchs Although it cold and snowing here today, April 3rd, in Red Lake, Minnesota, we are patiently waiting for the arrival of the Monarch. My 2nd grade class at Red Lake Elementary on the Red Lake Indian Reservation has been looking for milkweed, so we will know where to locate the Monarch when they arrive here. We are keeping up with each sighting and report in the southern states and we are marking each sighting on our U.S. map. We think the Monarch should be in Minnesota by mid May. What do you think? We sure enjoyed reading about Mike Cerre's family's visit to the sights in Mexico. My class especially like the part about the "orange snowflakes." Miigwech. Maxey Smith 0038rps@InforMNs.K12.mn.us
California Student's Monarch Story One day my parents were driving and then all of the sudden these Monarch are surrounding them in a big circle. It was probably fun.The butterflies got in there winshield and all over. They were at Donner Summet in the Summer. My city is Concord my state is California and I go to Sequoia Elementary. From, Natasha Nat5011878@aol.com
Students Report What They Are Learning Hello, we are from Stillwater, MN. We are tracking the monarchs through Journey North. We have learned about the monarch's appearance, habits, migration, and other things. Monarchs have paper thin wings that are black and orange. Monarch butterflies have long antenes. They migrate to the South. We sent in questions to the expert to see how long it takes for them to complete their journey. We also learned that the monarchs have lots of enemies. Humans influence monarch butterflys just by stomping, catching, and running over them. If you touch a butterfly's wing, you rub off part of its wing. This makes it unable to fly. Sincerely, Stephanie Roth, Sarah Fioritto, and Lisa Isenberg. 6th grade Lily Lake Elementary, Stillwater, MN
Journey North 125 North First Street Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401 Phone: (612)339-6959