Tag Archives: Monarchs

Winged On The Web

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monarch on laptop

The Monterey Regional Monarch Alliance’s new website, MRMAlliance.org, is a one-stop shop for finding volunteer opportunities, educational resources, and information on creating monarch habitats.

“Everybody can make a difference,” says Dr. Emily Zefferman, an ecologist at the Resource Conservation District of Monterey County. “Some people might not have the ability to go volunteer, but maybe they can plant some native plants in their garden. Some people might not be able to do that because they’re renters, but they can join a community science project or they could educate other people about monarch butterflies.”

Winged On The Web

Oh What To Do About Zero Butterflies In Butterfly Town

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Monarch Cluster

Why does no one recommend planting Monarch friendly eucalyptus trees?

Johnston remains hopeful that the community of Pacific Grove will continue its local efforts toward monarch conservation. “One of the most effective things people can do is to make their gardens and landscapes more pollinator-friendly. This includes reducing the use of pesticides and opting for native plants and flowers,” she recommended.

Oh What To Do About Zero Butterflies In Butterfly Town

Monarchs To Be Put On Endangered List

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Follow The ButterfliesProbably can’t afford the rent.

“Ever scene we started monitoring the butterflies, what we have noticed is a steep decline in the number; an over 95% drop,” said Community Science Coordinator at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History Natalie Johnston.

Wednesday afternoon a swarm of Monarchs were fluttering throughout the sanctuary in Pacific Grove, but Johnston says there’s a number of reasons for their population drop.

“One of [the reasons] is habitat loss and in their northern ground where they migrate too,” said Johnston. “Another is pesticides, and then there is climate change, witch is impacting all creators.”

Monarchs To Be Put On Endangered List

No Privacy For Monarchs

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Now people are encouraging others to peep into what the butterflies are doing and send paparazzi pics.

Monarch Molesting No Touch

The challenge seeks to fill a “data gap” in recorded sightings during March, April and May when monarchs are passing unseen between breeding sites.

Those looking to participate in the challenge can submit photos through the Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper project on iNaturalist — a crowdsourcing naturalist app jointly sponsored by the California Academy of Science and National Geographic — or by emailing them to MonarchMystery@wsu.edu.

No Privacy For Monarchs

Why So Few Monarchs?

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Maybe the butterflies hate the tourists too. I certainly avoid places where they gather.

Butterfly Molesting

Roughly 30 people — sanctuary docents, volunteers and interested members of the public — gathered in the sanctuary Thursday morning to listen to Stuart Weiss, the chief scientist contracted by the city to develop long-term planning for the 2.5-acre site. Weiss described what goals he and the city want to accomplish to help monarchs, including dealing with tree species, microclimates and the plants monarchs rely on for nectar.

Why So Few Monarchs?

Zombie Butterflies On The Loose

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Zombie Butterflies

Probably birds. Wouldn’t it be odd if it was hawks brought in to control sea gulls finding the town’s symbol more tasty than gulls.

The butterflies are often found clinging to life — their abdomen removed with seemingly surgical precision.

“Their abdomen is just severed clean off, like you took it off with a scalpel,” says Stong, who is also the regional coordinator for the Xerces Society’s Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count.

Connie Masotti, a docent at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, has also found several of the gutless butterflies. Based on their observations, Masotti suspects that the predation happens just before sunrise, since the butterflies are still alive when the docents get to their stations in the early morning.

Zombie Butterflies On The Loose

Monarchs Arriving On Time

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Follow The Butterflies

“Over the past 20 years, we’ve actually seen a fairly steep decline in monarchs,” said Govea, citing data from the Xerces Society, which tracks numbers nationally. “You used to be able to see them in George Washington Park in P.G. but the last time people saw them there was a decade ago.”

As director of exhibits and education for the museum, Govea is more concerned with his home turf. He said the verdict on whether or not it’s a strong year for monarchs on the Monterey Peninsula is still out. That will remain the case until the weekend after Thanksgiving when the Xerces Society does their big count.

“We won’t know until the end of the season when we have the full count,” said Stong. “It’s impossible to say at this time it’ll be a better than average year. It’s just really cool to be seeing them come back for another year and we hope they continue to fill in.”

Monarchs Arriving On Time

Want More Butterflies? PLANT TREES

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Don’t chop them down.

More Butterfly Trees

It’s the past management mishaps combined with a declining monarch population that has city officials more cognizant about how the sanctuary is currently managed. In 2009, some overly-trimmed trees were thought to cause the demise of some of the monarchs. That sparked debate and instigated a re-do of the monarch sanctuary management plan that was developed in the 1990s. Weiss was later instrumental in the process of planting a second row of eucalyptus trees along the sanctuary’s southern boundary with the theory that redundancy creates a safeguard.

Overall, he said the city is taking a conservative approach when it comes to the sanctuary’s maintenance this year, which will only include the removal of a couple of dead trees, which will be replaced with pine and cypress.

Want More Butterflies? PLANT TREES

Money For Monarchs

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“Past mishaps”
Butterfly Tree Stump

Fish & Wildlife to grant money for restoration and improvements.

“We walk around and talk about the state of the sanctuary and what the activities are that we have decided are good for the grove,” said Weiss. “The idea is that we want to be open and transparent about why we recommend doing certain things to keep every one on the same page about what’s happening in the grove.”

That transparency is so important to Weiss and city officials because of the past mishaps that have occurred with the city’s management of the sanctuary.

Money For Monarchs