Monarch Butterfly Migration Update: March 28, 2003 Today's Report Includes: Migration Builds in Texas, Spills into Louisiana and Mississippi How About the Florida Observations? Discussion of CQ #11 So Many Unanswered Questions... News From the Migration Trail in Northern Mexico Report from Overwintering Sites: Teacher Dave Kust and Family How Many Hectares Protected? Discussion of CQ #10 A Hopeful Sight: Forests Regenerate Quickly in Michoacan First Migration Update Sent to Sanctuary Area Schools Milkweed Emerging on the Migration Trail (Latest Milkweed Map) Monitoring Habitat While You Wait My Monarch Habitat in...Challenge Question #13 Migration Builds in Texas, Spills into Louisiana and Mississippi Sightings continued to fly in last week from points across Texas. Butterflies were more numerous, more northerly and more easterly than reported last week. We also received first reports from Louisiana and Mississippi. Reports of butterflies still at the Mexican sanctuaries mean the population now extends some 600 miles through northern Mexico as well. Link to this week's migration data. (Use the data to make your own migration map, or print and analyze our map.) Here are comments from some of the observers: Mrs. Flores's Third Grade students at Red Rock Elementary in Red Rock, Texas, have anxiously awaited the first returns of Monarchs to the Central Texas area near Austin. "Over the weekend of March 22, 18 students reported seeing Monarchs. The butterflies were alone or in small groups of no more than 4. Also, the milkweed is up and blooming along with the bluebonnets." Reporting from Greenlawn Terrace Elementary in Kenner, Louisiana, Mrs. Rankin noted: "A single female arrived at our school today and immediately began to lay eggs on the tiny leaves just emerging on the milkweed. She spent most of the afternoon laying eggs." In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, entomologist Dr. Gary Ross wrote on March 22, "Today I observed my first monarchs, 6 individuals. Weather is perfect: clear skies, temps.70-72 degrees, slight westerly breeze. Milkweeds are still low and not quite ready for an onslaught of migrants." Further to the east in Clinton, Mississippi, "Six monarch adults were observed by students in the Field Ecology Class of Mississippi College on the afternoon of March 25, 2003. Most exhibited a searching flight over the meadows and one individual was flying rapidly to the northeast. 42 milkweed sprouts (Asclepias viridis) ranging in stem length from 5-51 mm were found in the fields, but no eggs were found." Texas wildflowers and monarch egg on milkweed, April 2002 Courtesy of Harlen Aschen How About the Florida Observations? Discussion of Challenge Question #11 We're puzzled each spring by early reports of monarchs in northern Florida. Why are monarchs seen there before states to the west, like Louisiana and Mississippi? We asked last week, "Where do you think the Florida Panhandle monarchs came from? If migratory, describe the path you think the butterflies followed during migration." Mrs. Swentzel's third class from Stanhope (Byram), New Jersey says, "Most of the class thinks these butterflies have flown from Texas to be in Florida so early. The rest of the class was convinced that, because the butterflies were so worn out, they had flown from Mexico. They said that if the butterflies had worn out wings, that means they have had a lot of adventures and have flown a long way." So Many Unanswered Questions... Writing from the Florida Panhandle, Richard G. RuBino said,"I'd like to think they've flown here from Mexico, but there are other possibilities I can think of as well." He went on to list them: They might have flown up here to northern Florida from the peninsula south of us where monarchs do overwinter (but do not go into diapause), They could be the off-spring of monarchs which overwintered along our own Gulf of Mexico coast. (Though some of my "monarch-spotter" friends along the coast said that all the monarchs had been killed off by severe cold in January, a very dependable spotter informed me yesterday that she had monarchs in her area throughout the entire winter. ) They might have arrived as eggs on early shipments of A. curassavica (Mexican milkweed) to local nurseries. Similar Questions Surround Fall Migration... Where Do Monarchs Tagged on the Florida Coast Go? "So who knows where our current monarch came from? Not me." He continued, "Adding further interest to this question is that one of my fall monarch team members just reported a monarch flying low over his boat while he was fishing off the St Marks lighthouse. He was out in Apalachee Bay about a half-mile south of the lighthouse, and the monarch was flying from the southwest toward the northeast. I know this sounds like a monarch that "might" have flown over the Gulf of Mexico, but, on the other hand, it could have been a monarch that had been following the coastline and took a northeasterly hop across Apalachee Bay. All this is quite fascinating, but it still doesn't answer the question of whether the monarch came from Mexico or is the off- spring of monarchs that overwintered along the coast somewhere west of here." Can Monarchs Fly Across the Gulf of Mexico? For further discussion, see Dr. Bill Calvert's notes about this great debate: Can Monarchs Fly Across the Gulf of Mexico? News From the Migration Trail in Northern Mexico Photo: Jim Edson Dr. Calvert got off to a very slow start, after spending too much time in Mexico City trying to buy travel insurance. "Everybody wants to sell me a policy for a full year," he complained. He and Jim Edson left Monday afternoon, and the last two mornings we've been greeted by a phone call. "Where are you now?" we ask, with the atlas open to Mexico. On Tuesday, Bill they were in Tequisquiapan, Querétaro and on Wednesday in Rio Verde, San Luis Potosi. Can you find these places on a map? They haven't seen masses of monarchs yet, but we'll hope for a sky-full of butterflies to be reported next week when Bill summarizes the trip. Report from Overwintering Sites: Teacher Dave Kust and Family Dave documenting aftermath of January 2002 storm Last year Dave Kust and his family migrated to the overwintering sites with the monarchs, and spent the season in Angangueo. The family returned to visit this week, and Dave submitted this report on Wednesday. They found clusters of butterflies still remaining in the sanctuaries, but the season is definitely drawing to a close. It was Dave who first notified scientists of the January, 2002 storm, and he was there to document the event with photos and his own first-hand observations. Dave Kust's Report from Angangueo How Many Hectares Protected? Discussion of Challenge Question #10 Looking back to the sanctuary area, it's nice to know we're helping with conservation. Journey North students contributed $7,500 toward the purchase of seedlings for reforestation. We asked, "When the first 15,000 seedlings are planted during Michoacan's rainy season this July, how many hectares will have been planted as part of the Children's Monarch Butterfly Reforestation Project?" It takes 2,500 trees to reforest one hectare. Mrs. Hunt's g/t class in New Braunfels, TX did the math: Sydney and Madi added 2,500 together twice to get 5,000. They then decided that there were 3 groups of 5,000 in 15,000; so 3 groups of 2 equals 6 hectares." Mrs. Swentzel's third grade class from Stanhope, NJ, got the same answer. They added, "We read about the Children's Monarch Butterfly Reforestation Project and think this is a really great project. After looking at the pictures that you shared with us before, we can tell this is important." Students from the Francisco I. Madera primary school in Ejido Ocampo unload pines to be planted on school-owned land in 2001. Pines planted in 2001, between rows of corn. (Picture taken in August 2002.) Farmers may generally continue planting corn for the first couple of years after planting trees, if they wish. Children helping to unload trees at El Rosario. Photos Courtesy of Michoacan Reforestation Project A Hopeful Sight: Forests Regenerate Quickly in Michoacan Arrows point to the reforested area on these photos. The trees growing on the hillside are only 3 1/2 years old! Jose Louis Alvarez, with corn field and reforested hillside juxtaposed behind him. Jose Louis showing MRP work to Elizabeth Howard, Dave Kust, and German Medina Note reforested field in center of photo, on the distant hillside. Trees in foreground are same age. First Migration Update Sent to Sanctuary Area Schools This spring, as the butterflies fly over your homes, schools and cities, we're sending the news back to the students in Mexico so they can track the migration too. Journey North sends a FAX to Angangueo. Our coordinator there, German Medina, distributes the news to schools in town and in the surrounding mountains. Read the reports and practice your Spanish! (They re available in English, too.) Migration Updates for Students in Mexico's Sanctuary Region Escuela Los Trojos Students sharing excitement Escuela Cerro Prieto These students' families own critical land in the Sierra Chincua sanctuary Mexican students monitor the monarchs' arrival each fall. Milkweed Emerging Along the Migration Trail Please help monitor the spring emergence of the monarch's food plant across North America. You'll be amazed at the close connections the migration and this all-important plant. Please report the FIRST MILKWEED LEAVES to Emerge This Spring! Link to Milkweed Data Monitoring Habitat While You Wait Spring Monarch Habitat Observations Journey North is a study of migration and seasonal change. As spring moves across the continent, watch the interrelationships in nature build anew. Try This! Long before the migration reaches you, record how the monarchs' habitat is changing. Monitor the same site regularly leading up to the monarchs' arrival. On each visit, use the checklist below to record the date, photoperiod & temperature. Look for milkweed and sources of nectar. Each time you visit the habitat, predict when you think milkweed will emerge, when the first flowers will bloom and the when the first monarch will arrive. Checklist: Spring Monarch Habitat Observations My Monarch Habitat in...Challenge Question #13 Adirondack Mountains to the West Last Year's Common Milkweed Stalk Green Mountains to the East My Monarch Habitat in...Send Your Guess Luckily, monarchs won't arrive here for another two months. The ground is still frozen underfoot, and plants are dormant. Red-winged blackbirds just returned last week, and robins began to sing on Monday. The first flowers will probably be dandelions or maybe maple trees, but not until mid-May...As the crow flies, this habitat is 2,334 miles (3,757 km) from the overwintering sites in Mexico. Challenge Question #13: "In what state or province do you think this monarch habitat is located? Send us your guess! (And, send a photo of your local monarch habitat, plus geographical clues, for a future Challenge Question.)" How to Respond to Today's Challenge Question: 1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-monarch@learner.org 2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question #8 3. In the body of your message, answer the question above.   The Next Monarch Butterfly Migration Update Will Be Posted on April 4, 2003   Copyright 2003 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form