However, the walk was not totally worthless, I did find three preying mantids. I watched each of these fly in front of me and land awkwardly on plant stalks.
Monday, September 12, 2016
Mantids!
The Monarch Butterfly Celebration is this Saturday and I have zero Monarchs right now, despite hours of searching for caterpillars. This morning, a short walk through the field behind the Conservation District office once again left me empty-handed.
However, the walk was not totally worthless, I did find three preying mantids. I watched each of these fly in front of me and land awkwardly on plant stalks.
However, the walk was not totally worthless, I did find three preying mantids. I watched each of these fly in front of me and land awkwardly on plant stalks.
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Are there fewer Monarchs this year, do you think? We've only been in our house here for a year, so I don't really have a comparison as the former owner didn't have many flowering pollinator-attracting plants. This year I have a ton of zinnias and have seen a few monarchs on them, but there are no eggs that I've been able to find on my milkweeds plants (which are growing very robustly) - and I haven't seen any signs of anything eating the leaves.
ReplyDeleteThe general consensus seems to be that yes there are fewer Monarchs in Michigan this year. I found very few caterpillars this summer as did a couple of other people that I know who search extensively. That being said, some areas may have an abundance. One person that I know has found dozens of them on their property. I had a similar experience two years ago - everyone said the population was down, but I had my best year ever. One of those things you just have to hrug your shoulders at...
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