Monarch Butterfly Makes Colorful Comeback

"One year after an alarming 75% drop in population, Mexican trees are dripping with butterflies ready to head north."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/25/eveningnews/main20047348.shtml

The Monarchs are coming! The Monarchs are coming!

From "The Journey North" website:


05/07/2009 Amery , WI 45.36 , -92.35

Comments:
We were going on a walk as a class in our school forest. Our friends in Mrs. Hahn's class were with us too. We saw one monarch butterfly flying through the air. We waited until it landed so we could look carefully to see if it was a REAL MONARCH butterfly. There was only one so we thought him might have gotten lost.

Observer: Mrs. Kastanek' Class
Event: Monarch Adult (FIRST sighted)
Teacher/School: Jana Kastanek /Lien Elementary

Amery ,WI

Butterflies?!

03/27/2009 Park Ridge , IL 42.01 , -87.84

Comments
We have tiny little sprouts poking up through the soil in our garden. Yay, milkweed will be in abundant this year!!

Observer: Shannon Latko
Event: Milkweed (FIRST Leaves)

Park Ridge, IL

From the following Field Report:
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/record_milkweed.html?record_id=1238176538





Record ID: 1238176538
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Hello, Mr. Woolly.

Mr. Woolly Bear! I thought you were dead!
Sadly so, we had given up on Mr. Woolly and a few days later (ok, maybe it was three weeks), I finally dumped his cage. Out crawled Mr. Woolly, alive and well.
My neighbor had a similar story. The caterpillar died, the cage went into the garage... many many days later, somebody found the cage and decided to bring it back into the house. Out pops her Mr. Woolly Bear. Sooo confused...

So here's the scoop. Woolly Bears actually like old dead leaves. They like them because they are a great place to hide and hibernate for the winter. On cold Fall days, you can often see these caterpillars scurrying across the sidewalk or fallen leaves. They are looking for a spot to sleep for the winter. I was amazed to read that they live outside under rocks, old logs, under the snow until spring. Under the snow! In early spring, the woollys crawl back out and search for food. Only a few days of temps in the 50's and out they come, searching for anything green among all that brown. They will eat most anything, including dandelion leaves. So cool. Finally somebody is going help me weed, even if they are only an inch or so long.

Below is a great website that tells us how to care for the Pyrrharctia isabella a.k.a. Mr. Woolly.

http://www3.islandtelecom.com/~oehlkew/arctiidaecare.htm

International Rock Flipping Day

September 7 - the first Sunday in September. So go out, flip a rock, and take some cool pictures. Click the logo for more info. Why?

Well...

Why not?

I found a Tussock Caterpillar Today. Can you guess it's favorite food?

Noah's Favorite Butterfly

Click HERE.

New Friends

Chrysalis minutes old

Often a new chrysalis will appear lumpy, lopsided or an unexpected color. This picture shows the normal appearance of a new chrysalis for the first couple hours of development. Note the yellow and white stripes resembling the caterpillar's skin. These will disappear and the chrysalis hardens.

Video: attempting to disconnect the shedded skin

The chrysalis is formed and the pupa is attempting to disconnect the shedded skin from to top of the chrysalis. If the pupa is unsuccessful, try gently teasing the skin away with a thin paint brush. This is the final step before the new chrysalis will hang still to dry and harden in preparation for 10-14 days of creation. The average time in our home for each chrysalis has been 11.5 days before a new monarch emerges.

Another sign of change

This is a wonderful example of the twisted antennae of the monarch larva shortly before metamorphosis. Notice how the body segments are clearly defined and puffy. Often the caterpillar will have a greenish hue. The caterpillar is in the "J" formation. This "J" is uncurling, another sign of change. Moments before the transformation begins, the three sets of front legs will be tucked in toward the skin and the "J" will open with an aparent muscle contraction. The back of the skin will splits open as the transformation begins. Metamorphasis from larva to pupa takes about 6 minutes, with an additional 30 - 60 seconds of twisting to detach the shedded skin.
(Note: The chrysalis behind the "J" is only minutes old.)

Research in Duluth, MN

Recently the changes in the monarch population in Duluth, MN were studied. The research, entitled "The Rise and Fall of Danaus plexippus in Duluth, MN", was conducted from 2000-2005. The researchers proposed the following hypotheses (taken directly from the link below):

• H1:The ratio of monarchs to milkweed will
  decrease year to year.
• H2: Monarch eggs will always be in more
  abundance than the larvae.
• H3: In six years the overall numbers of
  monarchs have decreased.
• Null: The ratio of monarchs to milkweed will not
  change from year to year.

The conclusions varied from the original hypotheses (again, taken directly from the link below):

• Every other year, the ratio of monarchs to
  milkweed increased or decreased; H1 was
  not supported.
• H2 was correct: eggs were always more
  abundant than larvae.
• In six years of monitoring, overall monarch
  numbers declined, supporting H3.
• Ratios of monarchs to milkweed change
  annually, therefore rejecting the null
  hypothesis.

This chart can be found at:
http://www.monarchlab.org/research/strom1poster.pdf

5 Instars

borrowed this picture from here:

http://www.mlmp.org/monitoring/Guide/InstarImages/5_instars_c.jpg

Butterfly or Moth?

Can I copy this? I found a good comparison at this link:
http://www.earthsbirthday.org/butterflies/bflys/activitykit/compare.html

Moths
Wings not attached
Nocturnal (active at night)
Wings flat when resting
Feathered antennae
Fat abdomen
Form a cocoon

Butterflies
Wings hooked together in flight
Diurnal (active in the day)
Wings upright when resting
Straight, plain antennae
Thin abdomen
Form a chrysalis

Which do you prefer?

A backyard with mosquitos and butterflies, or a few less mosquitos and NO butterflies?

This research by a student at Breck High School shows disturbing mortality rates of monarch larvae when exposed to the common pesticide used to spray parks and other areas for mosquito control. Perhaps most upsetting is her finding that milkweed leaves that had been treated up to 3 weeks earlier still proved as toxic to the monarch larvae. We have seen this first hand here. A friend spoke with an expert in the area who recommended soaking the leaves (at least 20 minutes, I believe) before feeding it to our caterpillars. So far this has worked, but I continue to worry about poisoning my cute little critters, using my own milkweed whenever possible.

Follow the link to read the research article:
http://realscience.breckschool.org/upper/research/2003-04photos/Research2004/Sara.pdf

Or go to page 4 of this link for an easier, less technical read:
http://www.mlmp.org/pdfs/MLMP2004Final.pdf