Eyes that see the good in things: Aug. 26, 2019

One bright and sunny day many years ago, I stood at my living room window, watching many butterflies flitting about the colorful blossoms below. I grabbed my camera, intentionally leaving our energetic puppy in the house as I knew she could not be still enough to allow any photography.

Even though I tried to be careful walking up to the garden, the butterflies didn’t really want me there. I waited quietly. It wasn’t long before those butterflies came back and I was able to capture some beautiful shots of butterflies on those colorful zinnias.

It’s too bad I didn’t tell my husband that I meant to leave the dog in the house. He gave in to the whining puppy, let her out and shebarreled around the corner of the house to get to me.

She charged through the zinnias, sending the startled butterflies straight up into the air. I stood there as hundreds of butterflies rose up all around me. It was so beautiful that I stood holding my camera in my hand and didn’t even think to take a picture. That was the day that my preoccupation with butterflies began.

I haven’t seen that many Monarchs in my gardens since that day. A few years later, I only saw one Monarch in my yard the whole summer. So I started reading about Monarch butterflies and learned about their amazing migratory flight as well as the plight of the Monarch and what we can do to help them to recover.

The Monarch migration, I learned, is one of nature’s most spectacular events. North American monarchs travel up to an astonishing 3,000 miles in an annual migration from their summer breeding habitat to overwintering grounds. During the summer breeding season, eastern monarchs spread across the eastern U.S. and into southern Canada, laying eggs on milkweed plants.

In the fall, monarchs feast on late-blooming nectar plants along the way to their wintering sites. The eastern monarch population winters in forests in central Mexico.  

While the spring migration northward is completed over the course of two or more generations, the final generation of the year flies the entire way back to these forests. Monarch caterpillars require milkweed to grow and develop into butterflies.

These plants, key to monarch survival, are found along roads and highways; in yards, parks, and gardens; in old fields; and in pristine native prairies and other natural habitats.

The Monarch population has seen drastically low numbers in the last few years, but I’ve seen a lot of Monarch butterflies this summer and it seems that I’m not alone. Cora Lund Preston, a spokeswoman with the advocacy group the Monarch Joint Venture, says a survey of the Monarchs’ wintering grounds in Michoacan, Mexico, found the highest population in more than a decade.

“We won’t get an official count for the whole Monarch population until it is documented this winter in Mexico,” Preston said. Annual fluctuations in Monarch numbers are not unusual, but Preston says this year’s spike is promising.

“We hit the population goal this year for eastern Monarchs,” Preston said. “But we are looking at long-term trends and we are still down on average.”

There was a flurry of milkweed planting after Monarch numbers plummeted in 2014, and Preston believes it likely played a role in the recent population rebound. The more milkweed patches there are, the easier it is for Monarchs to migrate and reproduce.

“Monarchs will use any available habitat,” Preston said. “It is important we have habitat out there in as many different places as possible.”

This year, Monarchs also had the weather on their side. A cool spring, while not great for farmers, is ideal for migrating butterflies. Preston says cool weather at the start of their migration encourages the first generation of Monarchs not to travel too far north too fast. Pacing their way northward typically means hardier broods.

A great year for Monarch numbers in the Upper Midwest doesn’t mean the species is in the clear. In fact, both eastern and western populations of the butterfly still face serious challenges. While populations of the eastern Monarch are up this year, the western numbers are at their lowest in recent history.

Habitat loss is the biggest threat to the butterflies that make their summer home in Minnesota and North Dakota. While there’s a lot of milkweed out there, patches are not always close enough together to allow for easy Monarch migration.

The butterflies’ wintering grounds in Mexico are under threat from logging and development. Without a stable place to spend the winter months, the butterfly population could fall again. All these challenges will be taken into consideration next year when federal regulators decide whether to add the Monarch butterfly to the endangered species list.

“It’s been a good year for Monarchs,” Preston said. “That doesn’t mean they are making a great recovery.”

By mid-August, the first members of the migratory generation will emerge in the north. These butterflies are the great-great-grandchildren of the Monarchs that left Mexico last spring. They have a long and challenging life ahead: they will migrate to Mexico this fall, survive the winter, and return in spring 2020 to begin the breeding season anew.

At no other time of year is the population larger. Monarchs produce four generations during the typical breeding season and the population grows with each new generation. Monarch numbers reach their peak by fall migration and the fall migration is about to begin.

For more information about Monarch butterflies, their population numbers and how you can help, please check out one of these websites: https://monarchjointventure.org; http://www.flightofthebutterflies.com; https://journeynorth.org/monarchs. We would love to share local stories about the good things your eyes are seeing.

Stop in to share your stories with us, give us a call at 947-2417 or e-mail us at [email protected]. Or send a letter to Eyes That See the Good in Things, c/o Allison Lindgren, The Transcript 6 8th St N., New Rockford, ND 58356.