I finally found where our Monarchs have been hiding, including this one sipping from a common milkweed bloom. I now can check Monarchs off my 2023 “Must See” list. Yet, I wonder how long these royal insects will remain able to make the long trip here (in sequential waves).
Among other obstacles, common milkweed habitats are disappearing as more and more land is developed. That plant, Asclepias syriaca, is critical to the Monarchs’ propagation cycle. Here’s a closer look at it:
Last year, migrating Monarchs were put on the Red List of endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Those migrating Monarchs are the ones that we have here (Danaus plexippus plexippus), which 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 last year’s IUCN announcement, the migratory Monarch population has shrunk by between 22 and 72 percent (depending on area) over the past decade, primarily due to man-made causes, including milkweed habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on July 25, 2023.)