Those

Marvelous Monarchs
The Amazing
Migrations of
Monarch Butterflies
(Danaus plexippus)

The only reason I chose this

well-covered topic is that these handsome insects migrate right through my backyard,
so to speak. On the southward leg, anyway. White Beach in my town of Manchester-
by-the-sea, Massachusetts, lies along the flyway for the eastern population of
monarchs, which migrate between Canada and Florida. I’ve observed them for years
on their southward migration. Often they fly so far apart that it’s doubtful any of them
could see the one ahead of it, yet they follow the same course so precisely that I’ve
watched hundreds pass along the same fifty-foot-wide aerial passageway. And to
think that none of these insects has ever passed this way before.
One puzzling thing, though. Over the five or six years I was researching these
vignettes I used to spend a lot of time walking on Ocean Street (White and Black
Beaches) year-round, but I never noticed monarchs migrating northward in the spring.
And my web-searches on the topic (circa 2003) came up empty.

Some populations of
monarchs fly up to 2,500
miles in the autumn.
Some fly so far that their
wings actually wear out,
becoming torn, etc.
Monarchs west of the
Rockies migrate to certain
groves of trees along the
California coast. Those
east of the Rockies
migrate to high mountains
west of Mexico City.
According to
www.monarchwatch.org
and other sources, the
monarchs I see migrating
down the east coast are
White Beach & Crow Island, Manchester-by-the-Sea
Florida-bound. They don’t winter over, like the monarchs in Mexico and California,
but continue to breed.

Each population migrating south in autumn arrives at the same winter roosts, often the
same trees, used by their ancestors. Somehow they know their way, even though
they’re the great-great-grandchildren of the butterflies that headed back north the
previous spring. Individuals make the southbound or northbound trip only once. It’s
their long-removed progeny that make the return trip.

The monarchs that migrate to California and Mexico survive the winter largely by living
off their lipid (fatty acid) reserves. In spring, they head back toward the temperate
regions from which they migrated. But with only a few weeks to live, they barely have
time to procreate. This is why most reproduction occurs in the southern United States.
The progeny of the reproduction are the ones who continue the northward migration.
Data on this seems sparse. (According to Brower et al, 2006, “the monarchs' spring
remigration, from the Mexican overwintering sites to breeding areas in the southern
United States, is the most poorly studied phase of their annual cycle.”)
Pregnant with hundreds of fertilized eggs, each female lays her eggs exclusively on
milkweed leaves, because the sap will poison birds that try to eat her young. Each
female lays about 400 eggs on as many leaves, so that each hatchling has enough food
to get a good start. The youngsters hatch within days, eat their egg casings, and begin
eating the milkweed leaves.

Next autumn, by instinct alone, the great-grandchildren of these butterflies will return
to the very same winter sanctuaries in
Mexico or Florida.

Some scientists hypothesize that monarchs

navigate by hard-wired instinct, but if they
take a different route when northbound,
from which ancestor do they inherit the new
hard-wired route? For that matter, how is
the genetic code for a southbound route
reversed to northbound so that new
generations don’t head for Antarctica?
Perhaps, as a recent experiment
suggests, it’s all in the antennae. Clip off the
antennae and the butterflies wander
aimlessly. So maybe they home in on the
sun, rather than following genetically coded
routes. But this doesn’t explain the precise
route followed by the southbound butterflies
Monarch Caterpillar in my area. For several years I observed
monarchs following the
same southbound route so
precisely that I considered
it a deviation for any
butterfly to pass left of a
given house.

Personal Observations

Marveling at their ability to

navigate, in 2003 I started
making notes. As of 8
October 2003 they had
been migrating south for
Monarchs’ Autumn Southward Migration
several days, their route so precise that, as I take my late morning walk, I can see them
following the same aerial path -- along Ocean Street and up over the same part of the
same hilltop estate, to the right of the house. Many are out of visual range with each
other, the interval between butterflies often being at least the length of White Beach,
some 200 yards. The migration seems sparse, perhaps owing to the cold nights New
England has had in early October. Being cold-blooded, the monarchs can't fly if the
temperature falls below 55 degrees Fahrenheit. I returned at 4PM and saw not a single
monarch.

(9 October 2003, 10AM) A straggler flew by, the only one I saw during my hour at
White Beach. It followed precisely the same route as the monarchs seen yesterday.

(18 October 2003) A few days ago I saw two monarchs flying erratically but following
the same general White Beach route. Today I saw one fly a bee-line over the same
hilltop estate overflown by all the others I had observed. Ten minutes later I saw
another, flying much higher but generally on the same course. Soon two more, then
four, all flying to the left of the hilltop estate, a deviation from most butterflies, which
pass to the right of the
house. Those four
deviants may have been
caught in a breeze.
Perhaps a dozen
monarchs passed during
the hour I was there.

How do they follow so

precise a migration route?
It’s one thing to follow the
coastline (these monarchs
are headed for Florida),
but to do so and stay
within an aerial “tube”
some fifty feet in diameter
is nothing short of eerie.
To do this by following
Monarchs’ Spring Northward Migration each other seems unlikely;
the distance between
individuals is often 200 yards or more, with intervening hills and trees. Time and wind
rule out the possibility of following a scent trail. They may communicate and navigate
using ultrasonic signals. But the most logical answer is instinct.
Through the marvels of instinct each breeding population of monarchs may
inherit a map so detailed that the butterflies arrive at traditional winter roosts, often the
same trees. This "map" would have originated from their great-great-grandparents, for
no individuals make the southbound or northbound trip more than once. Their
children's great-grandchildren are the ones that return south the following autumn.
They’re said to survive the tropical winters by living off their fat reserves, though it
seems incredible that they could have fat reserves after such long flights. They
probably drink some nectar over the winter. Each spring, they return to temperate
North America, with only a few weeks left to live. Between spring and autumn, three
generations reproduce, then the great-great-grandchildren of the previous year’s
southbound migrants finish the northward migration, after which they or their progeny
repeat the cycle and return to the traditional winter sanctuaries, places they've never
even seen before.

Two questions nagged at me. First, what drove the monarchs (essentially a tropical
insect) to migrate so far north, into Maine and Canada? Nights get down to freezing
early up there.
Scientists believe the monarchs extended their range northward when
milkweed extended its range as glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age.

Second question. I'd been watching them migrate southward for years, along
precisely the same route, but I've never noticed them during spring and summer, on
their northbound migration. Do they change routes? How could this be, assuming
hard-wired instinct? I know the latest buzz is that it's all in their antennae (snip 'em off
and the monarchs wander), but their southbound migration is so precise and
unchanging, navigation within a matter of feet. What source could their antennae
home in on with such accuracy?
Brower (1995) holds that northbound monarchs don’t follow hard-wired routes
but opportunistic routes. Each succeeding generation flies generally northward but
uses routes that are good for feeding (nectar sources) and reproduction (milkweed on
which to lay their eggs). That’s why I don’t see them flying “Indian file” in spring and
summer, whereas in autumn I’ve seen them doing just that for years. All of which
suggests that the precise southbound routes are genetically coded in all successive
generations of monarchs, but are used only when needed. And when is that? When a
generation must make that trip of up to 2500 miles (to Mexico or California) and make
it by the most direct route. Either that or lose a generation, and perhaps a major part
of the species.
To accomplish this, the generation in question declines the right to reproduce,
and uses the energy saved to make that long journey. (Brower et al, 2006) This saving
also extends their life-spans long enough to winter over and reproduce in spring.

What marvelous creatures.

This photo copied under terms of GNU Free Documentation License.

References

Understanding and Misunderstanding the Migration of the Monarch Butterfly (Nymphalidae) in North
America: 1857-1995 by Lincoln P. Brower in the Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society (49(4), 1995,304-385).

Integrative and Comparative Biology, 2006, Volume 46, Number 6Pp. 1123-1142. “Fueling the fall migration
of the monarch butterfly” Lincoln P. Brower, Linda S. Fink and Peter Walford

Monarch Butterfly Monitoring in North America: Overview of Initiatives and Protocols, February 2009,
Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

http://oddsbodkins.posterous.com/