Each winter, since I began photographing the Monarchs in 2006, I compare this graph from Journey North to the number of butterflies observed on Cape Ann. As you can clearly see, this is the worst year on record, which corresponds to the near complete lack of Monarchs in our region this past summer.
Monarch Butterflies Eastern Point Gloucester
Many thanks to Kathy Chapman and our GMG Readers for forwarding the following New York Times update about the shrinking Monarch Butterfly popluation.
By Michael Wines
January 29, 2014
Faltering under extreme weather and vanishing habitats, the yearly winter migration of monarch butterflies to a handful of forested Mexican mountains dwindled precipitously in December, continuing what scientists said was an increasingly alarming decline.
The migrating population has become so small — perhaps 35 million, experts guess — that the prospects of its rebounding to levels seen even five years ago are diminishing. At worst, scientists said, a migration widely called one of the world’s great natural spectacles is in danger of effectively vanishing.
The Mexican government and the World Wildlife Fund said at a news conference on Wednesday that the span of forest inhabited by the overwintering monarchs shrank last month to a bare 1.65 acres — the equivalent of about one and a quarter football fields. Not only was that a record low, but it was just 56 percent of last year’s total, which was itself a record low.
At their peak in 1996, the monarchs occupied nearly 45 acres of forest.
The acreage covered by monarchs, which has been surveyed annually since 1993, is a rough proxy for the actual number of butterflies that survive the arduous migration to and from the mountains.
Karen S. Oberhauser, a conservation biologist at the University of Minnesota who has studied monarchs for decades, called the latest estimate shocking.
“This is the third straight year of steep declines, which I think is really scary,” she said. “This phenomenon — both the phenomenon of their migration and the phenomenon of so many individuals doing it — that’s at risk.”
Good Morning Gloucester 
Do they have any idea on why this is so? Thanks Kathy & Kim very informative…as kids that way Monarch Butterflies were always sought out in the fields woods…Like the salamander’s if you found the tiger salamander it was prized…Almost all we catch and release back to habitat the ones who did keep them for a while realized that meant feeding and taking care of. That toad I had in my room was worse than a rooster and timing off 0200 instead of sun rise one night only let him go the next day 🙂
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There are several previous posts on GMG that provide valid and excellent explanations, including climate change and loss of habitat throughout the country but especially in the Great Plains states due to Monsanto’s GMO Round Up Ready corn and the subsequent excessive use of herbicides.
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Thank You Kim – I do not always have the time to read everything so I went to you as the person who has done all the research. I remember we used a garlic spray on many of our crops for pest control Onion’s and certain flowers surrounding the garden. More at this link for those who may find it of value! I am happy to here the Days farm in Lanesville is a community garden now 🙂
http://wellnessmama.com/2524/organic-gardening-natural-pest-prevention-and-control/
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