Yesterday, the International Union for Conservation of Nature announced that it had placed the migratory monarch butterflies that we see here on its Red List of endangered species. The IUCN is a network of governmental and nonprofit organizations that track the status of wildlife.
I’ve seen a good number of monarch butterflies here in Brooklin this summer, such as these photographed yesterday on a butterfly plant:
However, I’ve seen very few monarch caterpillars here. Here’s the only one seen in a large patch of milkweed yesterday:
To be clear about the IUCN announcement, the Red-Listed native butterflies are the migrating monarchs (Danaus plexippus plexippus) that are a subspecies of the non-migratory monarchs (Danaus plexippus) that mostly stay in southern Mexico, Central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean.
According to yesterday’s IUCN press release, the migratory monarch’s population has shrunk by between 22 and 72 percent over the past decade, primarily due to man-made causes, including habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on July 21, 2022.)