Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Monarch Migration Hits Long Island

This is topic Monarch Migration Hits Long Island in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 07-13-2003, 03:01 PM:

Yesterday, after a long cold and wet spring and early summer,
the monarch butterflies Danaus plexippus entered my garden from the southwest. Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, the monarch migration is an event some of us eagerly
anticipate. Monarch Watch has a website, http://www.monarchwatch.org/

Five entered my garden in single file, going straight to the milkweed plants I allow to grow between my roses and hydrangeas.
Each alighted on the opening milkweed flowers, going from stalk to stalk, and then flew off to the northeast to continue their migration from central Mexico, where they completely cover trees, east of the Rockies northwest through New England and up to Canada. The longest recorded flight of a tagged adult was 1800 miles from Ontario back to central Mexico.

I thought they merely sip the nectar from the milkweed flowers, but have just learned the female lays her eggs on the underside of the leaves, where the larvae feast, developing toxicity from the plants which discourages the birds from eating them. The birds learn to recognize them from their colorful 4" wings, and leave the monarchs alone.

West of the Rocky Mountains, monarchs migrate to California.
Has anyone else seen them this summer?