In the past three days or so, there have been a number of posts from very capable lepidopterists reporting from the following locations in Arizona: White Mountains, Huachuca Mountains, CHiricahua Mountains, San Francisco Peaks, Mingus Mountain (vicinity). Between all of these reports there were zero monarchs reported.
I would argue that these were not causal observers or casual observations. They know how and where to find butterflies. Once again, I have had scientists tell me that there are moanrchs reproducing at high elevations in summer in Arizona, and it is the progeny of these that populate the breeding sites near SPringerville and in southeast AZ. The above places are precisely where I would go to look for reproducing monarchs in the summer. And apparently, they are not there.
Could the monarchs that show up at Canelo, Wenima, St. David, in Arizona around the onset of monsoons be coming in from the western Great Plains? I really do not think they are the progeny of high elevation breeding monarchs in AZ. When you consider a part of what brings on the monsoonal flow is high pressure situated over the four courners area, the clockwise rotation around that high pressure would be pulling air from the lower western plains into the southwest.
Are there breeding populations of monarchs in eastern Colorado, western Kansas, or the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma throughout the summer?
I guess I continue beating this drum because I think the migration story in the southwest is way more complicated than generally thought. I am very apprehensive to say things are a certain way until the evidence bears it out. As example, recently there was yet again misinformation printed about the western monarch population in a pull-out printed in Audubon magazine, perpetuating the false statement that "monarchs west of the Rockies migrate to California." Our southwest study has shown beyond doubt that this sort of blanket statement is not accurate.
chris
Chris Kline
Director of Education
Grange Insurance Audubon Center
692 North High Street, Suite 303
Columbus, Ohio 43215
614-224-3303
--- On Mon, 7/6/09, Gail Morris <gail-marie@...> wrote:
From: Gail Morris <gail-marie@...>
Subject: Re: [Southwest_Monarchs] Fw: [DesertLeps] AZ: White Mountains 6/26-6/28
To: Southwest_Monarchs@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, July 6, 2009, 10:00 PM
Thanks, Paul. There is a lot of variation in milkweed blooming by elevation. A. curassavica, A. tuberosa, A. linaria, A. erosa, A. angustifolia, A. nyctaginifolia and A. subulata all were in bloom in February through July (especially curassavica and tuberosa) in the lower deserts and home/botanical gardens. In early June A. tuberosa and A. viridis were in bloom NE of Payson around 5,000 feet. So in these areas blooms were available for males to patrol in late spring. And while these varieties may not be "favorites," many are used in Feb through May. But isn't there movement also with each generation at least till June or so? I was in SE AZ twice in the last 10 days at a site that historically has early summer monarchs, but didn't see any (yet) despite A. subverticillata in bloom. Just trying to figure this out.
Thanks for the explanation and the Texas population info. While the western lower populations can obviously have a noticeable effect, how would the numbers be affected by any spring migration from Mexico through AZ? And what about the effect of the strong monsoon south and easterly winds and storms July through September through the state?
More and more questions... .
Gail
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, July 06, 2009 11:02 AM
Subject: Re: [Southwest_Monarchs ] Fw: [DesertLeps] AZ: White Mountains 6/26-6/28
Gail Morris wrote:
> I looked at the Journey North spring sightings and
> in most years there are reported [AZ] sightings until
> mid-May. Most are mid-March to mid-May.
Yes that's true not only in Arizona, but nationwide because
mid-March to mid-May is the lifespan of the monarchs
that overwintered along the Pacific coast and in the central
Mexico highlands. Most eggs are laid late March - late April,
giving rise to a new generation of adult monarchs the emerges
mostly between mid-May - early June. However, in low populations
years (and nearly all years since 1999 in the West have been low)
no one will hardly notice this new generation of adult monarchs,
not only because the numbers are small, but because
male monarchs are less likely to set up patrolling territories
around milkweed patches that are not in bloom.
So researchers can end up wrongly assuming monarchs are
absent in
Arizona (as well as New Mexico, Utah, Colorado,
Idaho, Nevada, etc.) in late May and June when they are actually
present in almost undetectable densities.
Yet another, usually larger and more noticable generation
of monarchs emerges in July, not only in Arizona, but
throughout much of the West. One reason the July monarchs are
more noticable is because the subverticillata and speciosa
milkweeds are in bloom and the males patrol the flowering
patches.
In hot central Texas monarchs are routinely seen
in June and during the 4th of July NABA counts (15 seen this year
in one count alone) and numbers increase towards the
end of July and in early August just as they do in Arizona.
A key difference from Arizona is that monarchs are
ALWAYS very abundant mid-March to mid-May in central
Texas, hence the new generation of monarchs that emerges
beginning in early May is ALWAYS large. So because lots of
eggs
get deposited locally in central Texas in May, adults are seen
throughout the late spring and summer.
Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.
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