{"id":6139,"date":"2020-10-14T12:13:44","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T16:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6139"},"modified":"2020-10-14T12:14:14","modified_gmt":"2020-10-14T16:14:14","slug":"episode-140-will-the-monarch-make-the-trip-or-die-trying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6139","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 140 WILL THE MONARCH MAKE THE TRIP OR DIE TRYING"},"content":{"rendered":"
EISODE 140    WILL THE MONARCH MAKE THE TRIP OR DIE TRYING?<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Oct. 12, 2020<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The Monarch  caught my eye as it grabbed hold of a lingering cosmos flower.  A cool day.<\/div>\n
All the indicators screamed that winter was on the way.  Screamed in those vibrant colours<\/div>\n
of late fall.   The Monarch should not be here.  It should have flown south a month ago.<\/div>\n
Yet it seemed to know where it was going.  Heading south to Mexico.  Hopefully.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Usually Monarch flit here and there. Land on one flower then flit to another.   This Monarch<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
and try to get closer with my camera.  But I could not.  The cosmos was  growing on a<\/div>\n
steep  face of land where the pond had dried up.  One slip and down I would go.  How could<\/div>\n
I tell the Monarch  story without pictures of those beautiful wings?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Ninety percent (90%) of the Monarch  butterflies we enjoyed  20 years  ago are now gone.<\/div>\n
And there is  a good chance they will all  be gone in the next 20 years.   <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Should I do anything?  Could  I  do anything?  Maybe raise Monarchs?  Not so easy<\/div>\n
as  many human raised Monarchs  seem to be missing the SOUTH GENE.  They<\/div>\n
flit aimlessly and cannot survive when the heavy frost hits.  How do I know that?<\/div>\n
Because one scientist lassoed  some home raised monarchs and found they did<\/div>\n
not have the FLY SOUTH BEFORE THE COLD HITS gene.  Those Monarchs  living<\/div>\n
in places  like Hawaii do  not need  that gene.  But our monarchs need it if they<\/div>\n
are to survive.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Where was my lone Monarch  going?   After a  ten minute rest on the  cosmos the<\/div>\n
butterfly would released its grip and continued south.  Erratically but definitely south.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
How far is Mexico?  How many km. can a  Monarch fly in one day?  <\/div>\n
What can it eat along the way?   My  Monarch stopped to answer <\/div>\n
questions.   It needed all the energy it could muster to make the north<\/div>\n
shore of Lake Ontario that was 40 km. away.   Then it would face<\/div>\n
the flight over Lake Ontario or Lake Erie.  Could my Monarch  carry<\/div>\n
enough lunch for that flight?   Were there Monarch  restaurants still open<\/div>\n
on the Mississippii flyway?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The trip is not as easy as it used to be.  Less  milkweed for them to eat as farm fields<\/div>\n
get bigger and bigger and the old  fencerows get cleared.  In those fencerows the milk weed <\/div>\n
plants survived.  (Also survive in our garden at the expense of things we can eat.)  The forest<\/div>\n
fires ravaging the American west are devastating to the Monarchs.  No  escape.  In 2016, 62 million <\/div>\n
trees died in California alone.  Today, in 2020, the death whole of forests is far worse.  Here in Central<\/div>\n
North America there is  a  glimmer of hope due to the Monarch  Butterfly Biosphere Reserve<\/div>\n
in Michigan, a UNESCO world  heritage site.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Perhaps the worst part of this horror story is the illegal logging of the Monarch butterfly\u2019s<\/div>\n
home sites  in Mexico.  They hang by the millions on those trees and die by the thousands<\/div>\n
as  an illegal log is \u2018harvested\u2019.   Who is to blame?  No  easy  answer.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
My monarch on this bright sunny fall day has to be admired.  Monarch  butterflies are the only<\/div>\n
insects that migrate  like birds.  Migrate 3,000 miles to our farm.  Not the same monarch<\/div>\n
however.  The progeny makes  the journey.  Some only live one month on the flight.  But <\/div>\n
the monarch  I see today has lived  for 8 months.  It has never seen  Mexico it seems<\/div>\n
to know where Mexico is?   How is that?  The Monarch brain is the size of a pinhead<\/div>\n
yet it knows this  sunny  day in mid October that it should be on its way south to <\/div>\n
Mexico\u2026yes, brain the size of a pinhead.  What triggers that brain to head to Mexico?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I asked my Monarch.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMexico.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHave you ever been there?<\/div>\n
\u201cNever.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThen how do you know where Mexico is?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMy brain just cuts in and says \u2018fly south\u2019 when <\/div>\n
the temperature gets cooler.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cA lot of humans, Canadians, do the same thing.  <\/div>\n
Did you know that?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMy brain is learning about the human migration<\/div>\n
but not learning fast enough.  Millions of my kin<\/div>\n
get killed on highways,  particularly US 35 which bisects<\/div>\n
our flyway.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow do you know that?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot sure\u2026so many things in our life are disappearing<\/div>\n
but I am reminded of a saying among butterflies\u2026\u201dWe can but<\/div>\n
hope that good  will be the final goal  of ill.\u201d   That hope <\/div>\n
keeps us going.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe have the same expression of hope among us humans.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMaybe you humans can  do  something about the state of the<\/div>\n
world.  Your brains are so  much larger than mine.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSize of brain and intelligence do not seems to go hand in hand in<\/div>\n
North America these days.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThat is  tragic.  Tragic for us, the Monarch  butterfly population,<\/div>\n
and tragic for you, the human population that has peopled the earth.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI like your attitude\u2026keep on flying\u2026keep hope alive.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cRight.  Well, I cannot hang here talking any longer.  I am late.<\/div>\n
My target is the shore of Lake Ontario in the next few days\u2026and<\/div>\n
then Mexico before freeze up.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
And  away it went.  I forgot to get the name.  Not sure if the Monarch<\/div>\n
was male or female.  I do know, however, that it was smart.  It knew<\/div>\n
where it was going and would try to get there with all its might.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Wish I felt the same about us.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Oct. 13, 2020<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
WHY ARE THESE COSMOS FLOWERS SO BRILLIANT.  THEY HAD NO CARE.  NO SPECIAL  WATERING.  NO LOVE AND SPECIAL  FOOD.<\/div>\n
WHILE OUR SPECIAL COSMOS  GARDEN WHICH HAD CARE ALL SUMMER HAS BEEN DEAD AND GONE BY THE END OF<\/div>\n
SEPTEMBER.  DID THESE COSMOS SURVIVE BECAUSE THE FLOWERS  KNEW THAT MY MONARCH BUTTERFLY, MY FRIEND,<\/div>\n
WOULD BE ALONG?  I LIKE TO THINK SO.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

OUR TREES  IN LATE FALL LOOK LIKE A MILLION\u2026A BILLION\u2026MONARCH BUTTERFLIES<\/p>\n

JUST WAITING TO TALK WITH US.  <\/div>\n

alan skeoch<\/p>\n

Oct. 12, 2020<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/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-6139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6139","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=6139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}