Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
Click on Mark Twain to jump to Troutbirders book review blog

Sunday, September 3, 2017

A Flutter.... Then A Blizzard

Last week Mrs. T.,  Lily and I were hiking one of our favorite trails in Lake Louise State Park just north of the Iowa border. To our great surprise we saw lots of Monarch butterflies soaring over the prairie. It reminded us of an episode some five years ago in the same area. I'm recycling that story which was published the first week in
September 2012.
   The Baron (my first GSD)
and I were driving along a track on our way to one of my favorite
hiking/birding trails. To the right was a prairie, to the left a long line of shrubs and scrub trees. The flutter of monarch butterflies coming off the
shrubs quickly became evident. The flutter soon began to look like a blizzard of orange & black for the next quarter of a mile.

I fumbled to get my little cheapo camera out of my pocket. I like the camera because it does
fit in my pocket, while the binocs dangle from my neck. The following pics thru the windshield don't come close to doing justice to what I actually saw....but you get the idea.
Like many of
our migrating birds, the monarchs gather in the fall for an epic journey south. My friend, Mr Science (Gary) gives the following succinct explantion.

"MONARCHS
PRODUCE FOUR GENERATIONS EACH YEAR. THREE OF THESE GENERATIONS ONLY LIVE ABOUT
ONE MONTH EACH, BUT ONE GENERATION(THE 4TH GENERATION) LIVES FOR ABOUT 8 MONTHS
AND THAT IS THE GENERATION THAT EACH FALL MAKES A 1400+ MILE MIGRATION TO
MEXICO."
His blog "Nature Notes" on the flora and fauna of Fillmore County, Minnesota can be found at http://fillmorenature.blogspot.com/
I was, perhaps, a little early that year in checking some favorite monarch roosts but the sad fact is their numbers were way down over the long term average. That years drought, especially in the Upper Midwest had a bad effect. These beautiful creatures depend on milkweed. The long term prospects are even bleaker. Loss of habitat is hurting butterflies in the same way as it has our songbirds. Development and agricultural monoculture are very detrimental….

Here's a photo Gary took a few day ago in the same area we had been hiking....
At twilight the Monarchs settle down for the night.  Hopefully we're seeing a resurgence of their numbers this summer....:)

36 comments:

  1. We have had a mini migration so far but it does look like the migration will go through central Iowa this year. It is an amazing sight each time that I see it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, that must have been a nice surprise. I've not seen them doing that. Lucky you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am totally amazed at the Monarch life cycles and migrations and have read a lot on the subject. What a treat you had in seeing a large gathering.

    ReplyDelete
  4. How wonderful to see all of them at once!

    I see the geese starting to fly south. Very sad that they feel it is time already. :(

    xo Catherine

    ReplyDelete
  5. oh, that is so cool!! it has been years since i've seen even one monarch.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I can only imagine how wonderful it was to see that Monarch 'blizzard' in person. I do hope these beautiful creatures do make a comeback.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a great surprise! Lucky you!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. How lucky to get the chance to see this!!! I've only seen 2 Monarchs this year :0(

    ReplyDelete
  9. How wonderful to see it! And to know they are starting a long, long journey. Summer is definitely over, isn't it? :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. i have tagged monarchs for years as part of a U of KS migration study. What a geat experience!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Very very cool. I have never seen a Monarch. Only on TV.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've seen something similar twice, once was in Big Sur, the eucalyptus trees near the beach were full of them, fluttering...looked like christmas trees. The other time was driving down central Baja, they were crossing the long straight highway across the desert. The car was covered, literally, with Monarch remains.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I vividly remember being a kid and seeing a huge migration through our area one fall... the skies were simply FULL of orange and it was magnificent! There is a new IMAX movie coming out you'll want to try and catch:

    http://www.nooga.com/157068/monarch-migration-demystified-in-new-imax-film-premiering-in-chattanooga/

    ReplyDelete
  14. That's neat that you got to see that! You are at the top of the migration! There is a NOVA movie about this topic which I watched with my son that you might like called "Journey of the Butterflies."

    ReplyDelete
  15. How wonderful! It must have been a magical site to see! I plant more and more Milkweed every year so that some will return here:)

    ReplyDelete
  16. What a privilege it was for you to be part of their migration. I've never seen it but can imagine how lovely it must be.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow, how fortunate you were! Sad to hear numbers declining though.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Meese is a ring , of course.
    Moths to butterflies.
    And nobody knows more about it than Teresa.
    Who's now in a pickle.
    With all that pollination.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Beautiful photographs, I like to admire such views. I am greeting

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow, The Monarchs are stunning! We were lucky to see the Monarchs on their journey over the lake last Oct. It was a sight to behold seeing so many fluttering above the water and taking float high in the sky. I have not seen as many butterflies this year as in years past. I was hoping for a bumper crop of them in the gardens...

    ReplyDelete
  21. Sheer magic, to be in a "flock" (?) of migrating butterflies.

    ReplyDelete
  22. What a great find. we will start tagging them this next few weeks. I would love to see them in multitudes.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I can't imagine seeing so many at once.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hi Troutbirder - aren't they wonderful and what a pleasure to see 'a flock' go over - I remember seeing them in Rhodes, Greece in a Valley of the Butterflies where they hatched - not sure the particular type -but it was extraordinary. Great to see - cheers Hilary

    ReplyDelete
  25. The last photograph is wonderful. You are fortunate to have so many beautiful butterflies, all I see lately are cabbage whites. I guess all our pretty ones have flown elsewhere.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I have read elsewhere that they are coming back, at least somewhat.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Amazing! So happy you got to witness that not once, but twice!

    ReplyDelete
  28. You're lucky to see such a large flock locally and have your camera with you. I've always wanted to go to Mexico where they over winter and see them covering the trees. Someday!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Lucky you to see such a sight. I have heard of the massive migration but never seen any large numbers. Interesting about the generation thing.

    ReplyDelete
  30. I'm always happy to hear about monarchs that are still migrating. Stories for a few years were dire. Thank you for the great story. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  31. What a wonderful sighting! I'm always happy to see them!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Such a privilege to share their space.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I am proud to say that I have milkweed in my garden for the monarchs. We used to raise them when the kids were little. We'd have a bunch of small fish tanks and bowls all lined up in the kitchen with the various stages of instars. You have to bring them indoors so the birds don't eat them.

    ReplyDelete
  34. It's good to see Baron again !

    ReplyDelete
  35. WOW!
    We have been preparing an area just for milkweed in a newly cleared acre.

    ReplyDelete