Date: 11/23/2009

Number: 1

I just got back from a long anticipated trip to the mid-coast of California to observe the monarch over-wintering sites there. My kids (ages 5 and 8), my husband, and I spent 3 days over Thanksgiving vacation at Pacific Grove's Monarch Grove Sanctuary on Ridge Rd. We were stunned to find only 760 butterflies, down from 19,000 that were seen on Thanksgiving day last year. We went to Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz on Friday, and found the same thing--only 1400 butterflies instead of the usual 50,000. It appears the numbers are down all along the California coast. In talking with naturalists and various other officials, much speculation is going on as to what has caused the drop in numbers. Most are hoping that due to the unusually warm Fall weather, the monarchs are delayed in their migration--the next few weeks will tell if this is the case. Every year, since the early '90s, the numbers of over-wintering monarchs have dropped in all sites along the coast--many are pointing to the loss of milkweed habitat to agricultural expansion, the use of Bt corn and Round-up ready soybeans, drought, and climate change. It appears some whales in Monterey Bay did not migrate this year, as they usually do. I don't know what is going on, but I am very concerned and I hope this is not the beginning of the end of the western migration. Folks out there--PLEASE PLANT MILKWEED! My observation time: I was watching for __25_ hours and ___ minutes.

sylvania, OH

Latitude: 41.7 Longitude: -83.7

Observed by: candy
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