Date: 12/16/2022
Number: 1
Summary and Key Dates
Monarch Overwintering Site (Overwintering Site)
Winter Seasons of 2020-2021 and 2021-2022
Site Plowed-Under during November 2022
Chickasawhatchee WMA, Dougherty County, Georgia
Summary:
An excellent research opportunity of an inland Monarch overwintering site was unnecessarily lost. For several years, various agencies asked for public help to report Monarch sightings during the winter in the southeastern USA. An amateur Lepidopterist located a Monarch Overwintering Site on a state-owned WMA in inland southwest Georgia. Approximately 50 reports by the Lepidopterist documented monitoring over a two-year period. Approximately 50 Monarchs survived the second winter. 4 DNR personnel and a Xerces Society scientist visited the site. An article appeared in a national butterfly magazine about the efforts. Then, inexplicably, ALL the nectar source at the site was plowed-under at a critical time just before the start of the third wintering monitoring period. This plowing effectively destroyed the entire Overwintering Site and no Monarchs or other butterflies have been seen there since. Key dates, and links to selected photos and reports, below.
04 Dec 2012:
Roy Cohutta Brown, an amateur Lepidopterist (hereinafter Roy) noticed Queens at Chickasawhatchee WMA in the vicinity of the future Monarch overwintering site that was yet to be discovered. (The presence of the Queens was unusual in several respects at the time.) The Queens were taking nectar on wild radish - Raphanus raphanistrum which is visible in the photos.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbinv/8245847946/in/album-72177720299817336/
09 Dec 2020:
RESEARCHERS INVITE COMMUNITY to Help Monarch Conservations Efforts:
https://georgiawildlife.com/researchers-invite-community-help-monarch-conservation-efforts
11 Dec 2020:
Monarch Overwintering Site discovered at the Chickasawhatchee WMA. First of approximately 50 REPORTS filed on the Overwintering Site. Reports (or lists) provided to both NABA and to Journey North. All made available to DNR and to a Xerces Society Scientist / Ph.D.
Images of the list of Journey North Reports:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbinv/52531329409/in/album-72177720299822515/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbinv/52531329374/in/album-72177720299822515/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbinv/52531590853/in/album-72177720299822515/
All Journey North Records:
https://journeynorth.org/pde/records/mylist.html?species=All&myemail=roybrownphotography@gmail.com&submit=View+Records
Temperature data, links, a photo, etc. were included in the individual reports to NABA and to Journey North.
Many ADDITIONAL PHOTOS available in the Overwintering Album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbinv/albums/72177720299822515/
18 Nov 2021:
PUBLIC’S HELP NEEDED in Reporting Wintering Monarchs:
https://gadnr.org/publics-help-needed-reporting-wintering-monarchs
17 Dec 2021:
Number of Monarchs reported to have INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY over previous year at Overwintering Site. The conservative estimate on this date was 50 Monarchs.
Journey North Report, 17 Dec 2021:
https://journeynorth.org/sightings/query_result.html?record_id=1526562907
10 Feb 2022:
Two members of Georgia DNR participated with Roy on the butterfly count. 50 Monarchs counted this date.
https://journeynorth.org/sightings/query_result.html?record_id=1526566071
https://sightings.naba.org/sightings/20833
12 Feb 2022:
Lengthy surveillance at the Overwintering Site to determine where the Monarchs spent the cold nights.
https://journeynorth.org/sightings/query_result.html?record_id=1526566142
https://sightings.naba.org/sightings/20838
19 - 20 Feb 2022:
Similar surveillance as 12 Feb 2022, but this time with DNR biologist present.
https://journeynorth.org/sightings/query_result.html?record_id=1526566522
https://journeynorth.org/sightings/query_result.html?record_id=1526566523
25 Mar 2022:
MEETING AT THE OVERWINTERING SITE with local biologist and area manager. Total present: 3 DNR personnel, one XERCES SOCIETY Scientist and Roy.
14 May 2022:
Overwintering Site SPRAYED. Everything is brown and dead.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbinv/52075111911/in/album-72177720299822515/
Summer 2022:
AMERICAN BUTTERFLIES MAGAZINE, North American Butterfly Association (NABA), published a short article about the second winter of monitoring at the Overwintering Site.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbinv/52092669067/in/album-72177720299822515/https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbinv/52093709528/in/album-72177720299822515/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbinv/52093694786/in/album-72177720299822515/
01 Nov 2022:
The Overwintering Site was FULL of nectar sources and had MANY butterflies present.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbinv/52472190999/in/album-72177720299822515/
https://journeynorth.org/sightings/query_result.html?record_id=1526616389
21 Nov 2022:
RECENTLY PLOWED. No nectar sources. No butterflies.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbinv/52516717769/in/album-72177720299822515/
Additional followup during December 2022 revealed no Monarchs or Queens (and few if any other butterfly species) present in the area of the Overwintering Site. This was in stark contrast to the previous two cold seasons when there were hundreds of butterflies present. Please see JN reports for Monarch Counts during the prior seasons.
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:
Overwintering Album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbinv/albums/72177720299822515/
Monarch Album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rbinv/albums/72177720299826364
Roy Cohutta Brown
Dougherty County, Georgia
RoyCohutta@icloud.com
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/3476
16 December 2022
[Report moved from Monarch (OTHER Observations) to Signs of Fall by Journey North, 12/20/2022]
Albany, GA
Latitude: 31.5 Longitude: -84.4
Observed by: Roy
Contact Observer
The observer's e-mail address will not be disclosed.
Contact will be made through a web-based form.
