Date: 04/03/2010

Number: 1

Monarch adults at� Cross Creek 2010 spring census:

Censusing is being conducted by Kelly Sims, an entomology grad student at the Univ. of Florida who, along with her husband,� has censused with me for the past 4 years.
Data are collected systematically, basically an hour searching a large field of Asclepias humistrata, one of the principal spring food plants of monarchs in the southeast.

31 March� 0 monarchs.

3 April���� 1 female, good condition.

7 April���� 2 females, fair and worn condition.

10 April� 1 female, fairly worn.

13 April� 1 female, fairly worn.

17 April� no monarchs (surprising)

21 April� no monarchs (1 larva, 2nd instar)

Here is the 21 April photo, courtesy of Kelly Sims.

In virtually all years (going back to 1981), there are many more than this.� Normally there would be tens to a hundred�eggs and larvae there, and a minimum of 5 or 6 adults per census. We will keep censusing through early May. Censusing is being conducted by Kelly Sims, an entomology grad student at the Univ. of Florida who, along with her husband,� has censused with me for the past 4 years. Data are collected systematically, basically an hour searching a large field of Asclepias humistrata, one of the principal spring food plants of monarchs in the southeast.

April 26, 2009 Update
For about 20 years, my students and I have been monitoring adult monarch butterflies returning from Mexico to northern Florida during the spring from late March through April. The censuses have been carried out immediately south of Gainesville in a large field in which hundreds of Asclepias humistrata (the sand hill milkweed) grow.
This year is the lowest we have ever recorded. For example, in the spring of 1995 we had an average of 10.5 butterflies per census hour for 8 biweekly censuses beginning on 30 March and ending on 25 April. For approximately the same eight dates during this spring (2010), the average was 0.5 butterflies per census hr. Respective totals were 84 (1995) and 4 monarchs (2010). This year's spring remigration is thus a bust with less than 5% of the 1995 number of spring remigrants..

Cross Creek, FL

Latitude: 29.5 Longitude: -82.2

Observed by:
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