For most of the summer, I have been checking milkweed plants in the local area for signs of monarch butterfly activity, and have not seen a sign of eggs, larvae, or adults. The milkweed plant is essential for the survival of monarchs, which lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves, and the only plant eaten by monarch caterpillars is milkweed. This year, the cause of eaten milkweed leaves has turned out to be milkweed tussock caterpillars, hairy, orange and black caterpillars that appear on milkweed during this time of year. There have been orange butterflies around the area this year that resemble monarchs from a distance, but a closer look has revealed them to be fritillary butterflies.

Monarch sightings during the summer seemed to be scattered, with nothing in some areas, and adults and larvae in others. My first sighting of the summer was an adult in a friend’s yard in Port Jervis, NY. Across the river, in Matamoras, PA, someone reported several caterpillars in her milkweed garden. As fall approaches, some migrating monarchs have been spotted where no breeding or larval activity has been seen during the summer.

Most monarch butterfly counts continue to show a downward trend, including surveys in the monarch’s wintering areas in Mexico, the most accurate count method for assessment of the species well-being. Major factors in the decline of the monarch continue to be agricultural practices in the U.S. and loss of habitat in the monarch’s wintering grounds in Mexico, although progress is being made to halt illegal lumbering in Mexico in order to preserve the last bit of habitat left.

On the 29th of August, the Delaware Highlands Conservancy had its annual community picnic at its New York office. One of the presenters during this event was Ed Weseley, a naturalist, butterfly expert and long-time advocate of monarch conservation (and long-time River Talk writer). Wesely brought several live specimens of monarchs, from eggs to adult butterflies for his presentation; most of the photographs in this feature were taken during Ed’s presentation.

During his presentation, Weseley talked about finding monarch activity in some unlikely places, such as some monarch caterpillars he spotted in a small patch of milkweed between two buildings in the middle of a town. My own past milkweed observations suggest that monarchs go to the same patches of milkweed year after year, even in cases where lots of untouched milkweed grows abundantly along roadsides.

Late summer signals the start of migration for not only birds, but for monarchs as well. During the fall migrating-raptor counts that occur at many sites in the region, monarchs are counted as well to build a real-time snapshot of monarch numbers that can be compared with past years of data at a given site. Most of these sites welcome visitors, and whether it be monarchs or birds, the more pairs of eyes looking, the fewer will be missed. On the Hawk Migration Association of America website (www.hmana.org/), real-time monarch notes are usually shown for sites that record data.

The best time to watch for monarchs will be September and October, especially on the warmer days. They are seen traveling generally southward during the day, and they will take advantage of tailwinds and updrafts, so a good hawk-watching day will also be a good monarch-watching day in the coming weeks.

Even though much of the monarchs’ woe is caused by factors in far-off regions, there are measures we can take here to aid local and migrating monarchs. An increasing awareness concerning milkweed and the planting of milkweed in gardens, etc. to aid monarchs has been beneficial; however, what may be equally or more important is to preserve stands of milkweed that exist now, especially if they have been utilized by monarchs previously.

Adult monarchs feed on nectar from many different flowering plants, not just milkweed, so a butterfly bush or similar flowering plant is beneficial to monarchs as well as other pollinators. Use care when using chemicals in the garden so as to not harm butterflies and other pollinators. If you want to see a monarch caterpillar right now, view this milkweed muncher from a few years ago in Shohola, PA (large file, broadband recommended): www.twcwc.com/multimedia/MonarchMunch.avi.