Warner Parks' Nuthatch Notes: October 2024

Where are the Monarchs?

Written by Elyse Dilks, Naturalist

Monarch foraging on Milkweed in WPNC Meadow. Photo by Elyse Dilks

Where are the monarchs? It is a question that I have been asking myself a lot recently. A question quickly spiraling into other questions… Have they started migrating yet? Are they okay? Have they stopped flying through our parks? Did Hurricane Helene delay them? Are there even any monarchs left? My mind has been a whirlwind of concerns as I formulate reasons as to where they could possibly be. Here at Warner Parks, we are accustomed to seeing hundreds of monarch butterflies in the spring and fall seasons. They flutter around our meadows, visiting flowers and searching for the perfect milkweed leaves to lay their eggs on. I’ve seen females go from plant to plant laying eggs. They can lay anywhere from 100-300 eggs and when conditions are perfect, 1 egg per plant. However, where are the females to lay their eggs?

There have been a couple of sightings this fall season. One seen at Long Hollow and one near Butler’s Field. There was one monarch in the beginning of September, the 9th to be exact, that left her mark within our organic garden. Upon 3 of our healthiest milkweeds, 2-4 eggs rested on separate leaves. In total there were 7 monarch eggs. I was ecstatic! They were finally here! There had been speculation that a cold front in the north delayed the larvae development and start time of the monarchs’ usual migration period by at least 10 days. I wondered if she was the early bird and if more were soon to come after having been delayed. However, days of waiting and watching have now turned into weeks. Nothing. Those eggs I hoped to watch grow during their first phase of life were quickly eaten within the first couple of days. A tasty snack to ants, wasps, beetles, parasites, and many others. The early bird, or in this case the early monarch, did not succeed. Nature can seem so cruel, but it is simply being natural. I cannot help but feel sorrowful and a sense of dread lingers knowing that at this point, those eggs were the only ones laid here at the Nature Center. Maybe a few sneaky monarchs wandered to our meadows and laid eggs that were successful, but a cloud of doubt fills my mind.

Left photo taken in WPNC Organic Garden. Right photo taken in WPNC Meadow. Both photos taken by Elyse Dilks, July 2023

This year has turned out to be a major hit to the monarch populations. After a couple of heavy cold spells in January of this year, many monarchs from the roosts of Mexico did not make it. Scientists with the World Wildlife Funds estimated there was a 59% decrease in population from the previous 2022-2023 year. This estimate was based on the number of acres inhabited during the winter roosts in Mexico, with 2022-2023 having 5.5 acres used for roosting as opposed to this year’s 2023-2024 season only making up 2.2 acres (“Eastern Migratory Monarch Butterfly”). To give some perspective, the largest roost documented, spanned 18 acres. Since being documented and observed, monarch populations have been decreasing for the past 30 years, due to climate change, deforestation, and habitat loss. I worry that now it has become too noticeable that something is amiss.

Here in Warner Parks, we did not see a single caterpillar at our monitoring sites in 2024. Any eggs seen were snatched within the snap of my fingers. Many of us have been aware of the monarch populations decreasing, but we still saw them in large enough numbers. My brain never truly processed what it could result and now I am witnessing it firsthand. The lack of monarchs poses to us a cautionary tale. The absence of their presence foreshadows much larger problems for not just monarchs but to all living things in this world, which has caused me to realize the privilege of observing a monarch perform pirouettes in the air, carefree to us worried onlookers. As their populations dwindle, I watch our milkweeds begin to reach to high to the sun without monarch larvae to help prune their leaves. Like Icarus, their once bright green leaves scorch and shrivel, their bodies covered in black mold. Where did the mold come from? Greedy aphids feast upon the milky latex of milkweed and excrete a byproduct known as ‘honeydew’. A sticky but delicious delicacy for many organisms. While aphids’ honeydew coats the milkweed, sooty mold seeks the opportunity to daintily rest upon the plants and eat away at the sugary treat. Leaving behind the decrepit image of a burnt corpse. Unhabitable and undesirable.

I refuse to leave this on a sad note. In my heart, I believe the monarchs simply skipped Warner Parks this year and rushed down to Mexico to roost after potentially being delayed by cold fronts and a hurricane. Maybe next year as they travel up north, there will be a population explosion. To you as the reader, consider growing milkweed and let your yard flourish with native plants. If you live in an apartment, plant natives in pots or other outdoor containers. Even if the Monarchs don’t visit, at least you are providing food and shelter to other species that may be just as affected by the changes of our world. If the resources are there, such as Milkweed and other native flowers to forage, who knows what could happen. Nature likes to be unpredictable. I prefer it that way. Untamable just like the wild Monarch that flutters away as you catch a glimpse, leaving you hunger for more.