Ranching Butterflies

I went out this morning at first light to cut a few chard leaves to go with our bacon and eggs for breakfast. It felt like fall. There were clouds in the sky and it looked like today would be more of the same for a coolish August.  

Milkweed has invaded my low-maintenance lawn. I’ve mown once but the “weed” grows back quickly and the new leaves are fresh and inviting for monarch butterflies. As I was standing on the deck I noticed two monarchs fluttering almost lazily throughout the young milkweed. Were they laying eggs?

I took out my phone and randomly aimed it at a mama with graying wings. I happened to catch her extend her abdomen to the underside of a leaf, attach slightly and pooch out an egg! She fluttered away leaving a single ivory orb on the surface. To add to my delight, when I replayed the video, there in the bottom of the frame was a monarch larvae (caterpillar) eating his way to a metamorphosis of his own.

Monarchs, who have a fascinating multi-generation migration from their southern overwintering grounds up through North America and back down again, are in a population free fall. Numbers collected in California, where our butterflies from Idaho go for the winter, have fallen  80-97% of historic populations.

The current good news is that numbers are rebounding at the moment. We’ve noticed it at home, but it’s official all over the region. Last winter’s counts were the best in the last 20 years. This year is shaping up to be a good one too. I was surprised to learn that our own Snake River Plain is a critical component of summering habitat. It’s not hard to grasp why numbers are falling. Agriculture fields are “cleaner” than they used to be. Our lawns are manicured and non-native ornamentals fill our garden centers. We mow, prune, spray, till, burn, and in general tidy things up better and better. Not to mention population growth and the subsequent building boom.

Take a look around when you spend time out-of-doors. Where can you locate milkweed, the only food a caterpillar eats? Where can an adult butterfly find nectar to fuel her short, egg-laying life? Just because it’s a flower doesn’t mean it feeds monarchs. Look to our native plants for this role - asters, goldenrod, sunflowers, black-eyed susans and blanket flower among others. And for the wider spectrum of pollinators, shrubs like serviceberry, woods rose, chokecherry and currant are lovely choices (good for bird watching too).

We’ve been reporting butterfly sightings to journeynorth.org and I’ve got Mark trained to let me know when he sees them. I’m getting behind he’s seen so many. He got this lucky shot one day, and with it he makes his debut in blog photography.