Date: 10/23/2016

Number: 1

El pájaro que se comió a la monarca es un fly catcher nosotros le llamamos mosquero (Myiarchus cinerascens)

Courtesy of Correo Real.

Editor's Note: Monarch biologist Dr. Lincoln Brower had this bird identified as a Cassin's Kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans) by Dr. David Pearson of Arizona state. Dr. Brower added: "It’s interesting and valuable to have documentation of a Cassin’s Kingbird eating a monarch. There are very few published records of monarch butterflies being eaten by birds in the wild and the Cassin’s Kingbird is a new and important record.  Especially so because it indicates that monarchs have avian enemies along the migration route through Mexico.   Linda Fink and I wrote a paper in Nature with a drawing and photos of Orioles and Grosbeaks eating monarchs in Mexico (up to 35,000 per day). Here is the reference: 

Fink, L. S., and L. P. Brower. 1981. Birds can overcome the cardenolide defense of monarch butterflies in Mexico. Nature 291:67-70 (Cover article)."

Saltillo, COA

Latitude: 25.4 Longitude: -101

Observed by: Correo Real
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