Date: 02/13/2017

Number: 1

I've got a light colored orange arrow pointing at the male monarch. First one I've seen for a while. I know well the prevailing "truth" about the Monarchs in southern CA.
Maybe my posting to JN isn't a great idea. You have no place to post first Monarch of our new season of 2017. Although we are actually having a winter this year, here in southern CA, we don't usually have much of a winter. So waiting for spring is not reasonable for us.

I appreciate that your guidelines are for spring, but our Monarchs don't read. And they are perverse little buggers that have defied definitions and parameters.
The monarch I reported to you was a new one in my area. Yes, it probably was one hand raised by someone close by.
But our numbers of Monarchs are not really counted, are they? They don't cluster anywhere. So they are not included in any count.
And I haven't had a Monarch in my area since last October. Hence the first Monarch sighted.

If I had a way to make our Monarchs conform to the guidelines, I wouldn't do it. Monarchs are adapting in a far more wise and instinctual way than a mere human, or a human construct, could imagine.

Maybe we need to come up with a separate page to count our Southern CA monarchs. Because I don't need someone to 'teach' me about how they behave, and move.

I have a map that shows over 50 people around southern CA (North L.A. down to Mexican border) and the presence or absence of Monarchs. We are using both native and tropical milkweed plants, and are following BMP protocol. And no, we don't have to cut anything back. Once a plant has been eaten on by any monarch caterpillar, and then left, are cleaned up and put in a safe place to allow it to re-leaf.
Our O.e. rate is far lower than reported by Monarch Health.

Carlsbad, CA

Latitude: 33.2 Longitude: -117.3

Observed by: Nancee
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