(Continued from Part One)
In all the years I’ve been fascinated with nature, dating back
to my childhood in Kewaunee, no topic has created more ongoing
interest and a thicker file of notes, newspaper and magazine
clippings, letters, etc. over a period of 47 years, than the
monarch butterfly. A conservative guess would be that this
large attractive creature was the first butterfly learned by its
color, lazy sailing flight and interesting habits for millions of
people in the U.S. and Canada.
The fact that the larvae of these butterflies eat only the
leaves of the many species of milkweed plants means that one can
expect to find them in many of the areas where the plants are
known to grow naturally. Gray’s Manual of Botany (eighth
edition) lists 30 species and forms that can be found in eastern
North America extending northward into southern Canada. Surely
Mexico and Central America have several more dozen species there,
one that I will mention later in this story.
Fred A. Urquhart (Ph.D.) of Ontario also began studying the
monarchs when a child, later joined the staff of the Royal
Ontario Museum, and eventually wrote an excellent book, "The
Monarch Butterfly" in 1960. His interest in the mystery of
the migratory travels of the monarch butterflies began in 1937
and resulted in reams of notes, many of which were incorporated
into his book. Dr. Urquhart was the person who started the
important project of enlisting hundreds of people throughout
southern Canada and the U.S. to tag monarchs in hopes of
learning more about their migratory flights.
I came to know Bill Sieker, a lawyer of Madison, Wisconsin,
because of his relationship with the incorporation of the Ridges
Sanctuary at Baileys Harbor in 1937. Bill was an outstanding
amateur lepidopterist specializing in the "under-wing"
moths but also in butterflies. Bill and his family had a cottage
near Baileys Harbor for many years. He was one of the early
cooperators helping with Dr. Urquhart’s monarch-tagging project.
In fact Bill had two exciting recoveries from the many monarchs
he tagged. One that was tagged in Baileys Harbor on Aug. 17,
1956 was recovered four days later and 256 miles to the south in
Chicago. Another that was tagged in Baileys Harbor on Sept. 3,
1955 was recovered three days later and 130 miles to the south in
West Bend, Wisconsin.
It was during the mid-1960’s that I came to know Jim Gilbert,
outstanding naturalist and writer from Chaska, Minnesota. He had
come on some of my guided tours of the Ridges Sanctuary and
shared his experiences of tagging monarchs for Dr. Urquhart.
Urquhart, writing in his fascinating August 1976 National
Geographic story, "Found at Last: the Monarch’s Winter
Home," revealed his miraculous find, among millions of
monarchs, of one that had been banded in Chaska, Minnesota by none
other than Jim Gilbert!
Several of our friends, among them, ShirLee and Wes Wilson of
Baileys Harbor, have visited the famous wintering sites of the
monarchs in Mexico and described the adventure in wonderful
detail. Here is a good example of ecotourism, which, if handled
properly, will definitely benefit the future existence of the
monarchs. Upwards of 200,000 visitors each year hire guides to
take them to the monarch wintering sites.
More and more U.S. students, ranging in age from high school
down into the middle grades, have become involved in some basic
monarch research. A group of scientists and educators at the
University of Minnesota, including Dr. Karen Oberhauser,
Director, Monarchs in the Classroom Program, have developed
exciting programs for and involving students. Contact: Monarchs
in the Classroom, c/o Karen Oberhauser, 100 Ecology Building,
1987 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55104 if you are seriously
interested in helping.
Earlier I mentioned the milkweed plants whose leaves are eaten
by the caterpillars of the monarch butterflies. The common
milkweed, Asclepias syriaca (as-KLEE-pe-us si-RYE-a-ca) is
a very abundant wild perennial in this region. Even though it is
readily eaten by the caterpillars, it is not one of their
favorites if they have choices. Two that they prefer over the
common milkweed are the red milkweed, A. rubra and the
swamp milkweed, A. incarnata (in-car-NAY-ta). These three
plants are all native perennials.
There is another milkweed that is an annual and is not native
to this region, the Mexican milkweed, or "bloodflower,"
A. curassavica (cur-as-SAV-i-ca). These plants will
either have to be purchased as small plants or as seeds which
will then have to be started indoors this spring and moved
outdoors when the weather warms. Given a choice of the different
milkweed species, most monarch females will choose the Mexican
milkweed for laying their eggs. The young caterpillars relish
the leaves and, fortunately, the plant has a vigorous habit of
re-growing eaten foliage. As far as obtaining plants or seeds,
try The Milkweed Farm – www.milkweedfarm.com/catalog.html
– or possibly various plant and seed catalogs.
Next week I will give you some other ideas for helping the
surviving monarch butterflies that hopefully will find their way
to northeastern Wisconsin this early summer. By the time you
read this story they will already have begun their miraculous
journey northward. (Continued in Part Three)
A monarch caterpillar filling up on the leaf of
a common milkweed.
This column appeared in the Door County Advocate
on 03/29/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.
