Missing Monarch Butterflies

Despite many years of a declining monarch butterfly population here in southern Ontario, Canada, we have been lucky here on our rural land, partly because we maintain milkweed stands where they occur naturally on our roadsides and in hedgerows. Most years we still get a good showing of monarchs, at time with half a dozen or so seen fluttering around at once.

This year is different.

The milkweed is up, the fragrant flowers are fully open, but the monarchs are missing.

This morning I was driving through several of our rural roads with camera at the ready, and I found just one survivor. This one was quite intent to keep going, so I wasn't able to geet a good picture, but there is it is - July 13th, and this is the first and only monarch I have seen this year.





This CBS online broadcast from April 11, 2010 does a good job of describing the challenges the butterfly is facing in its winter nesting areas in Mexico.

If you would like further information about this problem, please check out the following links.

Globe and Mail article by Matthew Hart, July 5th, 2008

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News - 2009

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News - 2008