We have probably all been reading about the Monarch butterfly losing huge numbers because losing habitat in their wintering place in Mexico. Would be awful if we drove yet another species -- one so gorgeous -- into near extinction.

This plea from the Natural Resources Defense Council (one of THE best and most influential conservation groups -- think Robert Redford) asks us to help restore habitat by giving "Green Gifts" described in this URL:

www.nrdcgreengifts.org/gifts

Full information about the wintering places of these fragile beauties for populations East and West of the Rockies, can be found on this URL:

http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pol...ion/index.shtm

I didn't know that the Western population winters so close to me!

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Western North American Population

Monarchs living west of the Rocky Mountain range in North America overwinter in California along the Pacific coast near Santa Cruz and San Diego. Here microclimatic conditions are very similar to that in central Mexico. Monarchs roost in eucalyptus, Monterey pines, and Monterey cypresses in California

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We who contribute to so many conservation groups are understandably overloaded at this season when the solicitations come piling through the mail slot..

Just a thought...

HB

Higgs Boson wrote:

....re milkweed...
Just a thought...

with so much of them being killed off by
overspray from the fields around here i let
them run around the edges of the gardens and
ditches here when they show up.

we don't see monarch butterflies that often
any longer, but at least if they do show up
they have food.


songbird

On Saturday, November 30, 2013 12:15:03 PM UTC-8, songbird wrote:
Higgs Boson wrote:



...re milkweed...

Just a thought...



with so much of them being killed off by

overspray from the fields around here i let

them run around the edges of the gardens and

ditches here when they show up.



we don't see monarch butterflies that often

any longer, but at least if they do show up

they have food.

Good on ya!

What do they eat? Something other than milkweed?

Your climate being, uh, "continental", when do they show up & when do they leave -- if you've had a chance to notice?

TIA

HB

Higgs Boson wrote:
....
What do they eat? Something other than milkweed?

i've only seen them on milkweed as larva.
the adults feed on the nectar from several
other plants that i've seen (alfalfa, clovers,
butterfly weed) besides milkweed. probably
others too...


Your climate being, uh, "continental", when do they show up & when do they leave -- if you've had a chance to notice?

never kept track of those things. some
years i don't even know if they've been
here or not. we have plentiful other
butterflies which look similar at a distance
so i might think monarch when it's really
viceroy and vice-versa.

i'll try to note it this year when i
first see them (if they arrive at all).


songbird