On Oct 25th, the Monarchs made their return to Mexico, as expected and in time for their annual festival. I had been very concerned about them having read about massive spraying of herbicides which would destroy the larval food plant. People Power to the rescue.
This picture was taken at Arden Wood Monarch Sanctuary, California in November 2015. There the numbers are in thousands not millions but I still have tears in my eyes when I remember...
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Doggie mummy living in ancient York, Yorkshire, England.
Joined 1st Jan 2018
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I take photos, am not a photographer.
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@beryl I really can't describe my feelings when I saw the first and then so many. Wonderful as Ardenwood was, Pacific Grove in Monterey was even better, thousands of them on big white daisies. I'll never get to Mexico just as I will never forget these 2 sanctuaries.
Thank you, Beryl.
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I just can't imagine seeing them in these numbers. I have them on my property, and they don't migrate, they stay here year round but they never cluster up like this!
@koalagardens Australia hasn't had them very long, about 150 years and I suppose they don't need to migrate. I'm not sure if they overwinter by adult hibernation as 5 of our species do or as eggs or larvae. The Americas Monarchs overwinter as sexually immature imago in Mexico or California and in spring things change dramatically with the mass movemnet north, breeding as they travel. The Canadian born insects are the ones which go to Mexico & fly back up to Texas where their lives end. This is commonly accepted as THE insect migration, but do read about the Africa to Britain Painted Lady and ITS astonishing journey...
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@milaniet It indeed IS amazing, Milanie. I have masses of photos & videos & can hardly look at them, my lacrimals are leaking so much LOL. There were huge numbers of white, black and orange butterflies clustered like wisteria blossoms on the eucalypts, not native to America but which provide a perfect winter roost.
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Beautiful capture. I had a similar experience with these butterflies (which are not native to Australia) when I was in Queensland recently. Not as many, but they were swarming like this. It's brilliant to see. Great shot from you. Fav.
What an amazing sight that must have been. This is an amazing capture. It looks even better on black. I’ve never seen monarchs . I must look up Painted Lady migration. We’ve seen more of those this year than ever before, and also tortoiseshell.
@girlie Thanks, Robin. I think they hitched a lift or island hopped to get to Australia & New Zealand. Not a problem for such intrepid travellers. IT's unlikely I'll ever get to USA again but most certainly I shall not forget the Monarchs.
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@susiemc I'm astonished that you have seen many Painted Ladies & Tortoiseshells as both are considered to have had poor years with few PL bothering to make the trip and TS in severe decline. I haven't seen either in double figures and couldn't even find TS caterpillars to raise. In 1996 there was an irruption of PL in York, people shuffled rather than walked, there were so many in the air & on the ground. Of course we didn't have digital cameras to record the display. In 2009 researchers discovered that PL made the return trip to Africa, some insects (marked) have been known to fly over 4000K.
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What an experience it must be. You can get a feel for the awe and wonder of such a sight from tv footage but being there must be so much more awe inspiring.
@julienne1 Like you, I've seen David A's wonderful Mexican footage - can't imagine THAT in reality, but my experiences in California will stay in my memory as long as it works!
Thanks, Julienne
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Thank you, Beryl.
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Thanks, Julienne
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