Bird magnet AG writes:
<<Speaking of migrations...
<<How are the Monarchs doing this year?
Not so hot, I think. You saw a third of all I saw in my yard all summer in the
OM film shots you scanned. Our NABA counts were not great though we have
another counting outing on the 24th. I hope to see and photograph a few Bronze
Coppers as well, but this season has been very dry--lowest rainfall June-Aug on
record, so may be in vain.
From Monarch watch:
" It was apparent as early as late May that the migration, and the subsequent
overwintering population, was going to be much lower this year than in
2015-2016. The projections outlined in the Blog post of 7 July have largely
come true. The one surprise has been the production of late season monarchs in
Kansas, Missouri and North Carolina. snip......The timing of this production,
along with summer observations of low numbers of adult and larval monarchs in
these states, suggest a southward movement of reproductive monarchs in late
July and early August – a possible manifestation of the little-understood late
summer movement southward of monarchs that I’ve dubbed the “pre-migration
migration”. How much this more southerly monarch production will contribute to
the migration and the overwintering numbers remains to be seen. That said, it
still seems likely that the area of trees occupied by monarchs in Mexico this
winter will be similar to that measured in 2014 (1.13 hectares)."
The numbers were up to about 4 hectares in Mexico in 2015--- these are all very
very low numbers.
Worried Monarch fan, Mike
--
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