Monarch Migration 2019 Recap

Hello, I’m Michael Ferrara, CVWO’s Monarch Biologist for this year’s fall migration. Some of you may remember me from last year and from seeing me throughout the past two months. Since the end of last season I spent 6 months leading a crew in southern Texas conducting small mammal trapping and bird surveys. I was happy to be back this season to conduct the Monarch surveys and to assist Megan and Anna at the platform. This year there were a few changes to the Monarch protocol, since the Hawk Migration Association of North America added a Monarch tally on our hawkwatch page and I conducted a point count at the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge. 

Monarch Nectaring on Mist Flower

Tagged Monarch from another site nectaring on Mist Flower

This season was quite a bit different than last year. The peak of the migration moved through during early October and unfortunately there were only a couple of days with a ton of Monarchs. The largest number of Monarchs I tagged in one day was 150, but there were only 2 or 3 days in which I tagged over 50 Monarchs. There were a few days in which a lot of Monarchs were seen from the platform but unfortunately they did not land. In total, I tagged 761 Monarchs this season. The majority of them were seen around the Hawkwatch platform.

Monarch in flight

This year the Monarchs were observed roosting at the roost site by Wise Point. They weren’t seen in historically large numbers, but there were more observed roosting than last year. 

Monarchs roosting at Wise Point

In the Kiptopeke Butterfly Garden, we recently had Monarch caterpillars chowing down on the milkweed growing in the garden. Our milkweed has grown over the past year and now we have enough to support a bunch of caterpillars. Along with Monarch caterpillars, Common Buckeyes, Cloudless Sulphurs, Red Admirals, Sleepy Oranges and Clouded Sulphurs have been some of the frequent visitors to the butterfly garden. 

Monarch chrysalis in the Butterfly Garden at Kiptopeke State Park

Monarch caterpillar chowing down on some Milkweed

Red Admiral

Common Buckeye 

I believe that the dry summer has hampered the blooming goldenrod and mistflower, reducing the nectar availability for the Monarchs. The Monarch migration for the eastern flyway was forecasted and ended up being a weaker year this year. Fortunately, this year has been a great year for Monarchs across most of the country. Now that the weather has dropped and there have been a few frosts the migration has stopped through the Eastern Shore, but it is still possible to catch the occasional late Monarch.

-Michael

Monarch nectaring on Mist Flower