May 4th, 2012

The first monarch butterfly of 2012 was spotted at the Blair Outdoor and Environmental Education Centre yesterday, May 3rd. Grade 7 students from Lester B. Pearson Public School were here studying Stream Ecology – in the afternoon as we were checking the status of our nest boxes in the field, a bright orange monarch butterfly drifted by on the breeze.

Bright orange means this is a first-generation butterfly, progeny of the travellers that overwintered in Mexico. Two other recent sightings in Ontario were of faded, worn and tattered butterflies that had made the trip south in the fall, and managed to get all the way back this spring.

(click to see a larger image in a separate window)

Critical now is the emergence of milkweed – the host plant for monarchs. It is the only plant females will lay eggs on, and the only plant the larva are able to feed on. Last year’s spring migration was also early, and with no milkweed to be found, we lost an entire summer generation. Biologists, however, believe that the success of this first generation signals a rebound in the summer population.

Journey North is a citizen-science website we have spoken of many times on the “outdooredguys” blog. You can send in your sightings of monarchs, or milkweed growth and it will be mapped for others to see. On the map at this link, click on the dot in southern Ontario closest to the KW/Cambridge area and you’ll see the information we shared about yesterday’s sighting (you may want to zoom up first using the “+” tool).

The last two days have also revealed, through bird song, the arrival of a number of migrants including white-crowned sparrow, common yellowthroat, and new today, the gray catbird.

We’ve had some false starts up to now, but spring is definitely here, and it’s a beautiful thing!!

(click to see a larger image in a separate window)