I was going to save this topic for the summer, but an article that I read this morning prompted me to at least write about how I got started with this very interesting and gratifying activity. One of my summer interests is raising Monarch butterflies. June thru late September are spent tending to the Milkweed plants and looking for Monarch eggs and caterpillars on the milkweed.
This all started innocently enough in 2005 when my husband and I stopped for a cone at the local ice cream stand one nice June evening. Already being interested in nature, I spied a rather large and beautiful moth resting on the side of the trash can. Our 2 oldest grandchildren were ages 4 and 2 at the time and I thought that they would really like to see this moth, so I took it home to keep just overnight to show them. I placed the moth in one of those collapsible butterfly habitats that we already had. I had bought one of the kits that let you raise Painted Lady Butterflies in 2003 for the grandkids to watch.
The Painted Lady
In the meantime, I, of course, went to the internet to identify this moth. It was a Polyphemus Moth, one of the largest moths in Pennsylvania. I also found out that this moth does not eat like butterflies do, so I did not have to worry about feeding it. The next morning I looked in on our overnight guest and was puzzled by a lot of small whitish dots spread all over the netting of the habitat. Well guess what..... she, so it turns out, had laid eggs! This was the moment when it all started. I just could not ignore these eggs. Back to the internet to see how long till they hatched and what they would eat. Fortunately, one of the leaves that they eat was maple which I had plenty of in my yard. About a week later, I had teeny tiny caterpillars to feed. At first it was just a leaf or two, then a small branch, then I found myself practically giving my tree a good pruning! They were eating machines! My husband built me a larger screened box to protect the caterpillars from being eaten by birds. I had some rather large bright green caterpillars and then just like that they began wrapping themselves up in the leaves instead of eating them. This is where they would spend the next couple weeks. So about a month and a half after finding that first moth, the new moths began emerging from their cocoons.
The Polyphemus Moth
Very tiny eggs and caterpillars
Success! Now just to release them and wish them luck! Well guess what.... some of them were a little quicker than me and had already mated and left me more eggs! Deja Vu, more leaves and more cocoons. But this time I did not get any moths. It turns out that depending upon what time of year they go into their cocoons, they may not come out until the following spring. So they got a cozy sheltered spot on my deck for the winter and I crossed my fingers.
Spring arrived and the moths began emerging. This time I was ready. As soon as their wings had dried and stiffened, I moved each one to the deck railing so they could leave as they wanted. A few stayed around long enough to, guess what, mate. But this time they laid their eggs in a more natural spot somewhere in the maple tree I assume.
This adventure was over, but I had already begun preparing to attract the Monarch butterflies to my yard. I turned a small spot next to our shed into a garden, planted milkweed and waited.
In August, about the time the I had finished raising the moths, I saw the first Monarch caterpillar on my milkweed. I was very excited, but at this time I did not collect them and left them to nature. One of these caterpillars had decided that the overhang of the shed roof was a good place to form his chrysalis. I watched and waited and about 2 weeks later a gorgeous Monarch emerged. Hooked again and I began collecting and feeding several more caterpillars that I found hoping to help the population along. I had unknowingly become a citizen scientist.
The first Monarch
At first I used the screened box that had housed the moths the year before. I was only raising a few the first few years and soon found out that my box did not keep the caterpillars in and the predators out very well. So I invested in a larger mesh habitat. It was perfect! About this time I had learned how to spot the extremely tiny eggs. This gave me many more monarchs to raise.
Monarch eggs
Monarch tags
In 2010, I sent away for tiny tags that you apply to the wing before you release the butterfly. This was a way to help scientists learn more about the Monarchs that were able to complete the annual migration to Mexico. At this point, I was raising enough that I was able to give some to the grandkids so that they too could watch a butterfly emerged from it's chrysalis at home.
For a few years, we were happily raising Monarchs each summer. Releasing as many as 50 a year. I found that I was not growing enough Milkweed of my own and needed to take walks to places near me where I could collect milkweed leaves to feed the caterpillars. Fortunately, that would be enough. The road leading into our neighborhood has many plants growing along the roadside. Then 2013 and 2014 came. I had not one Monarch those years. There had been a huge decline in the winter population of Monarchs making them scarce. In 2015, things seemed to be back to normal with about 45 Monarchs released from my yard. But again in 2016, there were none. The next 3 years were good for me.
In 2018, I had learned about a disease that can spread among the Monarchs. I learned how to test my Monarchs before releasing them. This involves getting a few of the scales from the wing under a microscope to look for the disease spores. Although I never had any of my Monarchs test positive for this disease, I was still losing many more than I ever had before. Apparently, my Milkweed patch had been found by a few of the predators that can parasitize a monarch egg or caterpillar which causes it to eventually die before becoming a butterfly.
In 2019 I released 72! A 60% success rate! The most ever for me. 2020 was another disappointment because I had none once again. In 2021, I only released 19, but better than none. My daughter had also begun raising Monarchs at her home and eventually using them for her preschool classes as an educational tool. She has had really good years even when I did not until last year. Even though she had quite a few, there were not nearly as many for her either.
This brings me to the article that I read this morning saying that there is predicted to be another large decline in the Monarch population this year. So sad and disappointing. I share a link to the article below.
https://dailynorthwestern.com/2022/01/25/city/the-monarch-butterfly-population-might-be-declining-heres-what-you-can-do/?fbclid=IwAR0Nhrn-DEsDst4rn9Nit7AhSR9e2dSV4drt2LDzoYIbW03QmtZMe_exgJc
I am not an extreme environmentalist but there are certain things, like the Monarchs, that I do care a bit more about. I believe that some of the solutions can be very simple acts by us humans. Such as not needing so much manicured lawn, mowing less and planting native plants that will be much better for us and nature. If we all could just start with a little corner of our yards, I think we could start making a difference. We are part of the natural world as much as the Monarchs are. We all depend on each other. I hope that it is not too late for the Monarchs.
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