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LinkedInPosts Tagged: Pacific Northwest
Monarch Migration Underway from Pacific Northwest
They're here and more are coming! Be on the lookout for migratory Monarch butterflies from the Pacific Northwest heading south to their overwintering sites along the California coast. It's been a very good year for Monarchs in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), according to noted...
A WSU-tagged monarch. (Photo by WSU entomologist David James)
A male monarch nectaring on Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The King of the Butterflies on the Queen of Annuals
Is there anything more beautiful than a monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, nectaring on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia) in the late afternoon sun? The brilliant orange and black butterfly, famous not only for its iconic coloration but its seasonal migration,...
A monarch butterfly sipping nectar from a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in Vacaville, Calif., on Oct. 30. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch butterfly spreads its wings on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in Vacaville, Calif., on Oct. 30. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
As striking as a stain glass window, the monarch takes flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Where Are All the Monarchs? Good News and Bad News
Where are all the monarch butterflies? There's good news and bad news. First, the bad news: "An Epic Migration on the Verge of Collapse," wrote the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation on its website detailing monarch conservation. "Both the eastern and western migrations have...
A monarch on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia) in September 2016 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This image of a female monarch butterfly was taken Sept. 14, 2016 in Vacaville. It was a good year for monarchs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
What's Going On with the Monarchs?
What's going on with the monarchs? Our little pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif., usually draws dozens of them in the summer as they flutter around, sip nectar from the Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) and lay their eggs on their host plant, milkweed. Then in late summer and fall, the migratory...
A male monarch on Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) on Aug. 30 in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male monarch butterfly nectaring on Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) in Vacaville, Calif. on Aug. 30. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male monarch perches on the top of a Mexican sunflower in an image taken Aug. 30 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Migratory Monarchs Are on Their Way!
Migratory monarch alert! They're on their way. Camera ready? Check. Notebook ready? Check! Entomologist David James of Washington State University, Pullman, Wash., who studies the migration routes and overwintering sites of the Pacific Northwest monarch population, told us last Friday,...
This 2016 tagged monarch butterfly flew 285 miles in 7 days from Ashland, Ore. on Aug. 28 to Vacaville, Calif., on Sept. 5, or about 40.7 miles per day, according to WSU entomologist David James. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This 2017 female monarch was released Aug. 27 in Vacaville, as part of the Garvey family small-scale monarch rearing program. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
