On the North Fork of Long Island we have had abundant Seaside
Goldenrod, but a real scarcity of Monarchs feeding and resting on
them. Last year the Monarchs arrived while the Goldenrod was not
quite blooming; this year the Goldenrod is waiting but devoid of
Monarchs.We miss them fluttering off Long Island Sound and streaming
along the beaches . We actually had a Monarch caterpillar on a
milkweed in our yard a couple of weeks ago, but he was gone the next
day. At present we are in southern Vermont and Monarchs have also
been absent here. Could the spring storms have wiped out a whole
northbound population? Hope next year will be better.
On Oct 10, 2013, at 9:51 AM, Ann Mitchell wrote:
We also have lots of golden rod and have seen Monarchs. 3 years ago
in Cape May, 3rd week in September, we saw thousands of them- over
the water, binocular view, and on the golden rod or other flowers.
We went there for bird migrants, but..... Pete Dunne even mentioned
them in a report. It was spectacular! Hope there are still enough
trees in Mexico for them to winter over. Maybe it is just an off
year.??
Ann Mitchell
Sent from my IPhone
On Oct 10, 2013, at 7:40 AM, steve rosenthal <[email protected]>
wrote:
at jones beach and point lookout here in NY my impression was that
there were still ample goldenrods back along the roadways and (at Pt
Lookout) along the shore of Jones Inlet.... All with nary a
monarch on
them on my last few visits. I think 4 or 5 monarchs was the most I
saw
on any single visit of an hour to two hours length. This has been
typical for observers posting all summer long to the NABA (North
American Butterfly Assocaition) websites' "Postings" from anywhere
in the eastern half of the US.
On 10/10/13, Peter Priolo <[email protected]> wrote:
Excellent question I've noticed a decline as well. I am no expert
but have
tagged monarchs as a citizen scientist for the past 3 years on
the south
shore of Long Island as part of the U of Kansas monarch watch
project. Two
years ago there were enough monarchs flying east to west along
the dunes
that praying mantis would ambush them on the seaside goldenrod.
This year I the amount and rate of monarchs flying east to west
on the
coastal dunes decreased dramatically.
I think this is linked with the observation that there appears to
be less
goldenrod stands; and, I think there are less goldenrod because
of physical
change of the dunes from hurricane Sandy. Some great stands got
buried along
beachfront that I have found monarchs at in past years.
I wonder if there are less goldenrod available along the entire
coast in the
plants range. I wonder if this will set them back as the yellow
blooms are
an energy source timed with their migration.
That is my speculation. I don't know if the monarch population
actually did
decrease markedly this year, I just saw less where I used to see
more.
Peter Priolo
Ctr Moriches
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