Pacific Grove Sees Monarch Numbers at Their Best in 5 Years as Final Count of 2021 Nears

KSBW ^ | Nov 30, 2021 | Ariana Jaso

[nickcarraway]

Around 100,000 monarch butterflies are estimated to make up the whole western population this year.

Around 100,000 monarch butterflies are estimated to make up the whole western population this year. With 12,364 in Pacific Grove, which is the most butterflies they’ve seen in five years.

So the big question is — why so many this year compared to last year when there were essentially none?

Stephanie Turcotte-Edenholm, an educational docent for the Pacific Grove museum of natural history education said, “The monarchs decide where they want to go and where they get their needs met. So if it was too dry here, if we didn't have enough nectar sources, if we didn't have the wind protection that they needed, they would decide to go elsewhere.”

Turcotte-Edenholm said there are many things impacting monarch behavior, from climate change to droughts.

“It impacts their nectar sources, the milkweed they need in the spring to lay their eggs. If it's dry that also means that it's warm and the potential for them to mate too early and then leave the sites looking for milkweed and then it's not available and they won't have any place to lay their eggs,” Turcotte-Edenholm said.

Although, this year there are thousands of monarchs fluttering their wings. A welcome sight for the volunteers who count the butterflies each week. They do it early in the morning, when the monarchs are clustered up, making it easier to count.

“So we scout out the whole sanctuary, agree upon where we're going to count and then with binoculars we count individually, ourselves visualizing groups of 20 or more. Then extrapolate that over the whole branch, add on another 20-30% depending on the density of the cluster,” Turcotte-Edenholm said.

A promising year so far for the western population of monarch butterflies, many hoping the trend continues.

All sites are getting counted over a three-week period. The next and final countdown at the Pacific Grove site will be this weekend on Saturday.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

You're right -- it is four generations to complete one migration cycle. I'd forgotten that. From Wiki --> "The butterflies arrive at their roosting sites in November. They remain in their roosts during the winter months and then begin their northern migration in March. No individual butterfly completes the entire round trip. Female monarchs lay eggs for a subsequent generation during the northward migration. Four generations are involved in the annual cycle and the generation undertaking the southbound migration live eight times longer than their parents and grandparents."

I didn't know that about the southbound generation living EIGHT times longer than their parents and grandparents. Wow.

It is just astonishing that four generations later, that new generation travels to the same location.

[FamiliarFace]

Thx for the ping! This is good news to me! I had my best summer of monarchs for the few years I’ve been working on this. It’s gratifying to hear that I was able to do my part in some small way.