Date: 05/01/2014
Number: 1
Summary of spring migration written on July 26, 2014 based on my own observations and what I heard from people that I contacted Boerne, TX Latitude: 29.8 Longitude: -98.8 Observed by: Ridlon The observer's e-mail address will not be disclosed.
There weren't that many returning monarchs (in Central Texas).
I think the possibilities are 1) the few Gen1 monarchs that came from Central Texas were prolific in "ideal" conditions further north OR 2) some re-migrants continued on past Texas to find better conditions OR 3) some or many of them went along the Coastal Flyway where there are fewer people reporting
We had minimal rainfall the first 4 months of 2014 and the A. asperula emerged about a week later than usual as did the spring wildflowers. From my observation and that of my son (Stephen F Austin State University grad in Horticulture), the wildflower display west of IH35 was confined to the roadsides. The fields were basically devoid of wildflowers probably related to the drought. On the other hand, east of IH35, the wildflowers were profusely abundant on the ROWs and in the fields. The Aschens reported lots of monarch activity in their pasture between San Antonio and Port Lavaca. It is possible that the monarchs went along the Coastal Flyway.
Prior to a film crew visit on April 24, I canvased a number of friends and monarch acquaintances from Boerne, Comfort, Kerrville, Fredericksburg, Waco, Junction, Abilene, San Angelo, San Saba, Dallas, Plano, Richardson, Dripping Springs, Glenn Heights, Ft. Worth, Denton, Frisco, McKinney and probably a few other places and got replies of, "I'm not seeing eggs or larvae" or "I have eggs but no larvae." The survey excluded eggs that were collected from the wild and raised and caterpillars on Ac.
In the Cibolo Nature Center's (Boerne) milkweed patch, which we monitor weekly for the Monarch Larval Monitoring Project, we found eggs but no monarch larvae. That is the first time in 13 years of monitoring that we did not find a single monarch larva in the spring! More...
On March 29th I received a message from Craig Hensley, the Interpretive Park Specialist at Guadalupe River State Park (Spring Branch), excitingly telling me that in their butterfly survey they had seen 6 monarchs and counted over 60 eggs in an area of abundant A. asperula in the park. The A. asperula became abundant in a particular area of the park after a "controlled" burn in the fall of 2012.
On the day that the film crew came (4/24), I knew of 4 monarch larvae, 2 in my MLMP milkweed patch (A. asperula) in Suburban Bergheim and 2 in GRSP.
I met the crew in Boerne and we went to the CNC milkweed patch which looked pretty pathetic, not quite as bad as during the 2011 drought. Remember the photos comparing 2010 with 2011?
We drove to my property. I told them about my Anacacho Orchid Tree (Bauhinia lunarioides). It is my pollinator magnet............bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, in particular, monarchs. The phenology of my orchid tree was a study in itself. It was late leafing out and flowering. The west facing third of the tree was in bloom, the east facing third which is in partial shade had leafed out but the center third had not leafed. I was told that it was dead but it wasn't and it eventually leafed out. Really weird!
I had not seen an adult monarch on my property.
Indeed I had only seen one, while pumping gas in Johnson City while on my way to Dallas. I reported it to Journey North using my iPhone.
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