Tracking the Fall 2010 Monarch Butterfly Migration

[Cirsium]

Every fall, a magical event takes place in the animal world. Perhaps traveling over your own head right now--or clustered by the hundreds in a nearby tree--the annual monarch butterfly migration to Mexico is underway. By instinct alone, the butterflies go to the same mountains that their ancestors left the previous spring. Somehow, they find a place in Mexico that they've never seen before.

Joruney North - About the Fall Monarch Butterfly Migration:
Journey North: Monarch Butterfly

Beginning Thursday, August 26th, weekly FALL MIGRATION UPDATES will be posted here every Thursday, from September to November. (See schedule above.) Get ready to track the migration to Mexico. Find out how to report your sightings and track the migration on real-time migration maps.

Journey North's Monarch Butterfly weekly updates begin Thursday, August 26th.
Journey South News: Fall 2010 Monarch Butterfly Migration

Fall 2010 Monarch Butterfly Migration: Peak Migration Sightings

[bridget1964]

I have used Journey North both personally and professionally (for school) for many years now. It is a wonderful website that also tracks other animals and natural phenomena. For example, you can post when you see your first spring robin, when you hear the first peepers, etc. I can then go back and read my data from when I first started in 2004! I've been amazed to see the dates that I've posted about monarchs and their peak migration has been almost the exact same date for several years in a row!

You can sign up on the website to receive weekly notifications of these various migrations/events. As an educator, it provides much data, photos, video, graphs and more that I can share with my students.

If you are interested in learning more about monarchs, check out the 'Just For Kids' section. There are videos of a caterpillar eating its way out of its egg, monarchs eclosing from a chrysalis and much more.

The website also has a lot of information about the wintering site for the monarchs and the indigenous people of Michoacan, the Purepecha. These amazing people revere the monarch and coexist with them in the Transvolcanic Mountains in Michoacan, Mexico.

I can go on and on...I visited the colonies Feb. 2009 and fell in love with the land and the people.

[bridget1964]

Thanks for sharing this site here, Cirsium!

[Cirsium]

They're off! Flying, resting, and refueling, the monarchs are on their way to Mexico and excitement is in the air.

This Week's Update Includes:

• News: Monarchs on the Move!
• The Migration: Maps and Journal Page
• Puzzle and Slideshow: The Annual Cycle of the Monarch Butterfly

Monarch Migration Update: August 26, 2010

[bridget1964]

Many monarchs migrating over Absecon Island this week. My sister and I biked the length of the island and back. Saw dozens of monarchs nectaring in all the yards and gardens. Saw several mating pairs, almost ran over one of them. Stopped to pick them up and put them out of harm's way. As I carried the coupled couple to the side of the road, I noticed a large butterfly bush COVERED with monarchs. There were 20 monarchs on just one bush! I've had females in my yard every day this week, all egg dumping. My milkweed is so pitiful, I can't believe they are laying on it! Most of it is chewed down to the stems.

I hope others here will document the monarch migration they see in their areas. I am very interested in hearing everyone's accounts.

[Equilibrium]

I'm not seeing many. All I've seen I could count on my hands without having to go to my toes. I've been checking plants and I'm not finding any signs of them either. It's sorta depressing.

[bridget1964]

Equilibrium,
That is quite depressing. I do know the numbers were way down this year because of the storms in Michoacan, Mexico, their wintering site. Do you usually see a lot of monarchs in your area? Do you have a lot of milkweed around?

I think we see many more here at the Jersey shore because we are in the path of the Atlantic Flyway. The monarchs seem to take the same path as the birds.

[amelanchier]

Mine all left when the Joe-Pye stopped blooming. Haven't seen one in days, even with the goldenrods going.

[Equilibrium]

I have a lot of milkweed around and I usually see oodles of monarchs. Not this year though. Here's a stand of milkweed I've been keeping my eye on. I took this photo about 2 weeks ago... see any sings of anything anywhere? By July of last year these plants were tattered and torn and teaming with cats. Zip nadda nothing this year and they should have been well munched by now. This scenario is playing out everywhere around me. This is why I was willing to drape fruit tree netting over the whole stand if I'd found even one cat.

[sprucetree]

I posted my listing and while filling out the form [michigan] was right below Michoagan which I didn't know. Although I only saw 10 in my yard to me it was a big deal being in the desert of Suburbia. My guess is they saw my Sulpher Cosmos after thier flight over Lake St. Clair and needed refreshing. Of course north of Michigan is Canada and that's probably where they were migrating from. I've had Autumn Joy Sedum for years but they never were spotted by the monarchs passing through. I'm collecting the seed as it ripens but don't know if I will get orange flowers next year and will also look for more butterfly plants that grow tall, So they can see them in fly-over country.