New residential developments, monoculture farm consolidation, and not a native plant in site. Trying to get people to abandon zero utility lawns that require constant mowing and fertilizer is an uphill battle. I don't want to think about all the lesser known butterflies and moths suffering even worse, like Papaipema eryngii.
Trying to get people to abandon zero utility lawns that require constant mowing and fertilizer is an uphill battle
its weird too, you’d think "stop doing that activity universally seen as annoying and boring and nature will be better because of it" would be a seller
(ofc there’s more to it than just stop mowing a lawn, a carefully planned garden takes a lot of effort, but an unmowed lawn is still better than a mowed lawn)
We were just in Vermont and Burlington had a lot of no-mow zones and lots of butterfly gardens in the areas we biked.
We saw a lot of monarchs earlier (seemed more than previous years) in the summer too, but it got super dry and we haven’t seen as many lately. And also our observations are purely anecdotal and unscientific.
Here’s an “international conservation strategy” for ya: stop continually trashing the environment. This isn’t an isolated problem with a quick, easy solution. For decades, scientists have been telling corrupt, arrogant politicians to stop fucking around. Now we are in the early stages of Finding Out. Congrats on your excellent leadership, dipshits.
Oh wow you solved the problem.
If you can, plant some milkweed.
Minor edit: If you can, plant some NATIVE milkweed.
A lot of big box stores sell tropical milkweed that can fuck with Monarchs' natural navigation and migration instincts.
My wife and I planted one a couple years ago and I've been bummed that I haven't seen a single caterpillar on it yet this year. It's nice and big now compared to its first season when the monarch caterpillars absolutely demolished its leaves.
The interesting thing is in Southern California there is a huge bloom in the growth of the Monarch population. We're part of a group of people in SoCal on a message board who have butterfly gardens, and everyone is seeing crazy numbers of Monarchs this season. We only have a small butterfly garden and in past years only birthed around 20 per season. The season is only half done, and we lost count how many have emerged from our yard. I used to be happy to see one butterfly per day, but this year I can stand in my yard every afternoon and have 3 or 4 flying around my head. I've watched 6-way butterfly orgies. We counted 20 caterpillars on just one of our plants one day.
The caterpillars this year are also morons. I lost count how many times I've watched them fall off a plant or eat the root of the leaf they are standing on (also causing them to fall off). There is a whole thread on the boards with pics of really stupid places they've seen chrysalises. One common spot this year is on car rims. The best are multiple people have pics of a chrysalis hanging from the bottom of another chrysalis. That is guaranteed to go poorly for the bottom one.
Same here, I'm in the Southeastern USA. Monarchs are one of those species I pay attention to, and this spring we had a bumper crop around here. I've never seen so many of the caterpillars and adults in the past 10 years or so I've made an effort to look.
Granted, that's also true for the handful of other butterfly and moth species I keep tabs on, they're all having a really good year this year it seems. Luna moths, several different swallowtail species, Gulf fritillary, regal moths, hummingbird butterflies. About the only thing that I've seen less of this year are the giant hummingbird hawk moths.
But these things do tend to ebb and flow. One year certain "bugs" are everywhere, the next year they're hardly seen. And with the monarch lifecycle being what it is, one good year like this one, even if it's good in more than one region, isn't a guarantee of long term success.
Can confirm, have seen more than usual the last few weeks in Socal (anecdotal and non-quantitative).
I live in an area that used to be a long one of the migration routes for them. There's even a little Park / nature preserve near me that had a whole section dedicated to them. Informational kiosks, some butterfly artwork, a lot of flowering plants they enjoy. I haven't seen a butterfly there in years. Most the plants are dead too but that's cuz it's way hotter and drier these days I imagine. Totally unrelated I'm sure...
I have to wonder though since the article didn't mention but was there a Ghibelline Professor who disagreed?
I remember the migration being a big deal in Texas as a kid.
First was the splendor of thousands of butterflies descending on a clover field where kids were once playing rowdily.
Then, getting a little older and learning about their migration patters and such.
I worked in an Elementary public school back in Texas a dozen years ago. Talked to some of the teachers. Yeah, not on the curriculum and will not be.
As in, some teacher WANTED to teach kids about that shit, but the state said no, and the butterflies haven't been cooperating.
Of course, cooperating is difficult when you're dead.
Heads up if you plant milkweed, it flowers in year 2. You didn't mess it up, it just needs time.
I don't remember the last time I saw a butterfly but I remember seeing a bunch when I was a kid.
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