EISODE 140 WILL THE MONARCH MAKE THE TRIP OR DIE TRYING?
alan skeoch
Oct. 12, 2020
The Monarch caught my eye as it grabbed hold of a lingering cosmos flower. A cool day.
All the indicators screamed that winter was on the way. Screamed in those vibrant colours
of late fall. The Monarch should not be here. It should have flown south a month ago.
Yet it seemed to know where it was going. Heading south to Mexico. Hopefully.
Usually Monarch flit here and there. Land on one flower then flit to another. This Monarch
gripped the Cosmos bloom for a long, long time. Was it a death grip? It held firm Long enough for me to get off the tractor
and try to get closer with my camera. But I could not. The cosmos was growing on a
steep face of land where the pond had dried up. One slip and down I would go. How could
I tell the Monarch story without pictures of those beautiful wings?
Ninety percent (90%) of the Monarch butterflies we enjoyed 20 years ago are now gone.
And there is a good chance they will all be gone in the next 20 years.
Should I do anything? Could I do anything? Maybe raise Monarchs? Not so easy
as many human raised Monarchs seem to be missing the SOUTH GENE. They
flit aimlessly and cannot survive when the heavy frost hits. How do I know that?
Because one scientist lassoed some home raised monarchs and found they did
not have the FLY SOUTH BEFORE THE COLD HITS gene. Those Monarchs living
in places like Hawaii do not need that gene. But our monarchs need it if they
are to survive.
Where was my lone Monarch going? After a ten minute rest on the cosmos the
butterfly would released its grip and continued south. Erratically but definitely south.
How far is Mexico? How many km. can a Monarch fly in one day?
What can it eat along the way? My Monarch stopped to answer
questions. It needed all the energy it could muster to make the north
shore of Lake Ontario that was 40 km. away. Then it would face
the flight over Lake Ontario or Lake Erie. Could my Monarch carry
enough lunch for that flight? Were there Monarch restaurants still open
on the Mississippii flyway?
The trip is not as easy as it used to be. Less milkweed for them to eat as farm fields
get bigger and bigger and the old fencerows get cleared. In those fencerows the milk weed
plants survived. (Also survive in our garden at the expense of things we can eat.) The forest
fires ravaging the American west are devastating to the Monarchs. No escape. In 2016, 62 million
trees died in California alone. Today, in 2020, the death whole of forests is far worse. Here in Central
North America there is a glimmer of hope due to the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
in Michigan, a UNESCO world heritage site.
Perhaps the worst part of this horror story is the illegal logging of the Monarch butterfly’s
home sites in Mexico. They hang by the millions on those trees and die by the thousands
as an illegal log is ‘harvested’. Who is to blame? No easy answer.
My monarch on this bright sunny fall day has to be admired. Monarch butterflies are the only
insects that migrate like birds. Migrate 3,000 miles to our farm. Not the same monarch
however. The progeny makes the journey. Some only live one month on the flight. But
the monarch I see today has lived for 8 months. It has never seen Mexico it seems
to know where Mexico is? How is that? The Monarch brain is the size of a pinhead
yet it knows this sunny day in mid October that it should be on its way south to
Mexico…yes, brain the size of a pinhead. What triggers that brain to head to Mexico?
I asked my Monarch.
“Where are you going?”
“Mexico.”
“Have you ever been there?
“Never.”
“Then how do you know where Mexico is?”
“My brain just cuts in and says ‘fly south’ when
the temperature gets cooler.”
“A lot of humans, Canadians, do the same thing.
Did you know that?”
“My brain is learning about the human migration
but not learning fast enough. Millions of my kin
get killed on highways, particularly US 35 which bisects
our flyway.”
“How do you know that?”
“Not sure…so many things in our life are disappearing
but I am reminded of a saying among butterflies…”We can but
hope that good will be the final goal of ill.” That hope
keeps us going.”
“We have the same expression of hope among us humans.”
“Maybe you humans can do something about the state of the
world. Your brains are so much larger than mine.”
“Size of brain and intelligence do not seems to go hand in hand in
North America these days.”
“That is tragic. Tragic for us, the Monarch butterfly population,
and tragic for you, the human population that has peopled the earth.”
“I like your attitude…keep on flying…keep hope alive.”
“Right. Well, I cannot hang here talking any longer. I am late.
My target is the shore of Lake Ontario in the next few days…and
then Mexico before freeze up.”
And away it went. I forgot to get the name. Not sure if the Monarch
was male or female. I do know, however, that it was smart. It knew
where it was going and would try to get there with all its might.
Wish I felt the same about us.
alan skeoch
Oct. 13, 2020
WHY ARE THESE COSMOS FLOWERS SO BRILLIANT. THEY HAD NO CARE. NO SPECIAL WATERING. NO LOVE AND SPECIAL FOOD.
WHILE OUR SPECIAL COSMOS GARDEN WHICH HAD CARE ALL SUMMER HAS BEEN DEAD AND GONE BY THE END OF
SEPTEMBER. DID THESE COSMOS SURVIVE BECAUSE THE FLOWERS KNEW THAT MY MONARCH BUTTERFLY, MY FRIEND,
WOULD BE ALONG? I LIKE TO THINK SO.
OUR TREES IN LATE FALL LOOK LIKE A MILLION…A BILLION…MONARCH BUTTERFLIES
JUST WAITING TO TALK WITH US.
alan skeoch
Oct. 12, 2020
