{"id":1511,"date":"2018-08-19T23:25:11","date_gmt":"2018-08-20T03:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=1511"},"modified":"2018-10-28T13:47:16","modified_gmt":"2018-10-28T17:47:16","slug":"monarch-butterfly-sightings-life-cycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=1511","title":{"rendered":"Monarch Butterfly sightings, life cycle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MONARCH \u00a0BUTTERFLY:<\/div>\n
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HOW DOES THE FOURTH GENERATION KNOW IT MUST FLY TO MEXICO?<\/div>\n
(A MYSTERY)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
alan \u00a0skeoch<\/div>\n
August \u00a0 2018<\/div>\n
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MONARCH \u00a0BUTTERFLY REPORT<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
OUR HOPE FOR SURVIVAL RESTS WITH THE FOURTH GENERATION<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Alan \u00a0skeoch<\/div>\n
August 20, 2018<\/div>\n
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The world is \u00a0in trouble. \u00a0We all know that. \u00a0And the trouble is \u00a0right before our eyes. \u00a0No frogs, No snakes, \u00a0No \u00a0bobolinks, No leeches, No \u00a0Killdeers. \u00a0 Let me change that. \u00a0yes, I did \u00a0find<\/div>\n
a \u00a0couple of Leopard frogs in our 7 acres \u00a0of ponds this year (2018). \u00a0No doubt there are more but decades ago there \u00a0were hundreds, thousands maybe. \u00a0And \u00a0last year we had \u00a0garter \u00a0snakes<\/div>\n
procreating in our green house. \u00a0The big female had lots of suitors\u2026seemed to be in every crate of \u00a0flower pots. \u00a0None so far this year. And the ponds \u00a0had \u00a0lots of leeches. \u00a0None for past few years. \u00a0Have not seen<\/div>\n
a \u00a0bobolink or a killdeer for decades. \u00a0What to do ? \u00a0What to do? \u00a0 Are we really in the midst of the sixth extinction of life on our planet? Will the polar regions \u00a0melt and \u00a0raise the oceans high enough<\/div>\n
to drown our ocean cities. \u00a0Will the climate change so radically \u00a0that lives of little creatures \u00a0will be lost forever? \u00a0Is it true that 95% of the living creatures on earth are human beings and \u00a0their domestic animals. \u00a0The wild \u00a0creatures have been reduced to 5%.<\/div>\n
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All \u00a0of which takes me to this short photo essay \u00a0on the Monarch Butterfly. \u00a0 When people suddenly got worried about the rapid \u00a0disappearance of Monarch \u00a0Butterfly due to the<\/div>\n
use of \u00a0herbicides like Round Up Marjorie and I decided let one of our gardens \u00a0reassert its Milkweeds. \u00a0Not difficult to do. \u00a0 Deep rooted. \u00a0Came \u00a0up every years in spite of \u00a0plowing.<\/div>\n
\u00a0The idea was to provide female Monarch Butterfly<\/div>\n
with a \u00a0food supply for her eggs. \u00a0She can lay a thousand \u00a0in her lifetime. \u00a0 Not much luck yet. \u00a0We did \u00a0find one tiny monarch caterpillar munching milk weed but it died.<\/div>\n
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The good news is that we have several\u2026maybe 4\u2026monarchs \u00a0flitting around the farm. \u00a0Or maybe we are just seeing one Monarch in four different spots. \u00a0It is here. \u00a0Loaded<\/div>\n
on a teasel to get some sugar and then slipped \u00a0away ‘ on gossamer wings’ because she seemed to know we were watching. \u00a0Got her picture anyway. \u00a0Will \u00a0she lay<\/div>\n
a thousand eggs on these plants?<\/div>\n
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It is \u00a0time for the fourth generation. \u00a0Fourth generation? \u00a0In one year? \u00a0Yes, four generations \u00a0of Monarch \u00a0Butterfly live and die \u00a0in \u00a0one summer\u2026not even a \u00a0whole year.<\/div>\n
The first three generations die between two \u00a0and \u00a0six weeks after they emerge from the ChrYsalis \u00a0stage. \u00a0 But that fourth generation lives for 8 to 9 months. \u00a0Enough time to get to<\/div>\n
Mexico or California. \u00a0How come? \u00a0How come the fourth generation lives for 32 to 36 weeks \u00a0when his or her parent only live for 2 to 6 weeks. \u00a0And \u00a0the really big questIon.<\/div>\n
How does that fourth generation know it should \u00a0head \u00a0for Mexico?<\/div>\n
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Today is \u00a0August 20, 2018. \u00a0I assume the Monarch Butterfly we found today is a \u00a0third generation Monarch. \u00a0If it is a female it will be laying 1,000 eggs of \u00a0fourth generation<\/div>\n
Monarchs. \u00a0Some, a few, of those eggs \u00a0will successfully go through the larva and chrysalis \u00a0stages and emerge ready for the trip.<\/div>\n
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Your task? \u00a0In the next couple of weeks \u00a0look for Monarch caterpillars on milk weed \u00a0plants. \u00a0Let\u2019s hope there will be many. \u00a0Do not disturb them. \u00a0Maybe our little patch<\/div>\n
of milk weed \u00a0will delay \u00a0the sixth extinction event. \u00a0Maybe.<\/div>\n
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alan<\/div>\n
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CAN YOU SEE HER? \u00a0SIPPING A SODA \u00a0FROM A THORNY TEASEL. \u00a0MAYBE WATCHING ME\u2026OR HOPEFULLY WATCHING THE MILK WEED \u00a0PLANTS IN THE FOREGROUND.<\/div>\n
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MONARCH \u00a0BUTTERFLY: HOW DOES THE FOURTH GENERATION KNOW IT MUST FLY TO MEXICO? (A MYSTERY) alan \u00a0skeoch August \u00a0 2018 MONARCH \u00a0BUTTERFLY REPORT OUR HOPE FOR SURVIVAL RESTS WITH THE FOURTH GENERATION Alan \u00a0skeoch August 20, 2018 The world is \u00a0in trouble. \u00a0We all know that. \u00a0And the trouble is \u00a0right before our eyes. \u00a0No […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1621,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions\/1621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}