{"id":213,"date":"2009-03-31T21:33:27","date_gmt":"2009-04-01T03:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/?p=213"},"modified":"2009-03-31T21:33:27","modified_gmt":"2009-04-01T03:33:27","slug":"monarch-spring-migration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/?p=213","title":{"rendered":"Monarch spring migration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monarchs come through central Texas in both the spring and fall migrations.\u00a0\u00a0 In spring, they particularly need wild milkweeds on which to lay eggs,\u00a0 but they also need flowers that provide nectar, in case they must fly farther to find the milkweeds (and this year, that’s important.\u00a0 Because of drought, the milkweed abundance is way down on our place.)<\/p>\n

I usually see monarchs mating while perched on Ashe junipers–as wind protection–and nectaring on whatever’s blooming.\u00a0 Some years, they have a choice.\u00a0 This year, because of the drought, not much choice.\u00a0 The reliable woody shrubs bloom even when the flowering forbs are scarce.\u00a0\u00a0 Rusty blackhaw viburnum and wild plum (both the Mexican plum and the thicketing plum) provided monarch feeding stations this year.<\/p>\n

\"worn-monarch-viburnum232\"<\/p>\n

This particular viburnum overhangs the creekbed (now dry) and is at least twenty feet tall.\u00a0 Sunday it was covered with white flower clusters.\u00a0\u00a0 Since we’ve owned the place, excluding livestock from the creek woods has allowed the growth of new viburnums, so in another ten to twenty years, we should have a lot of flowering shrubs–and some very happy monarchs.<\/p>\n

\"worn-monarch-viburnum221\"<\/p>\n

Thicketing plum used to grow along many of the fencerows in this area, and even on some lots in town, but was eradicated as a “pest” or “messy” despite the fragrance of its flowers.\u00a0\u00a0 Thicketing plums are not individually long-lived,\u00a0 and clumps change in size with rainfall and sun.\u00a0 But they’re an essential resource for many butterfly and moth species here…blues, hairstreaks, Red Admirals,\u00a0 Common Buckeyes,\u00a0 Variegated Fritillaries–all will nectar on thicketing plum (and on Mexican plum, of course.)<\/p>\n

\"worn-monarch-plum239\"<\/p>\n

Thicketing plum flowers are tiny, but they hold enough nectar to keep a monarch intent on taking a sip of every one.<\/p>\n

Everyone knows that monarchs need milkweeds…but they also need other nectar sources and shelter from strong winds and storms, both of which we have in spring.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For those who live in areas where wild milkweeds and wild plums (or any kind of virburnum) do well, consider offering the monarch these proven favorites.<\/p>\n

Monarchs also need nectar sources in the fall; around here,\u00a0 they come to frostweed, Maximilian sunflowers, and gayfeather (liatris.)\u00a0\u00a0 A fresh fall monarch tanking up for that last dash to Mexico is stunning against the white of frostweed, the bright yellow of the sunflower, or the strong magenta of the gayfeather.<\/p>\n

\"monarch-gayfeather250\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monarchs come through central Texas in both the spring and fall migrations.\u00a0\u00a0 In spring, they particularly need wild milkweeds on which to lay eggs,\u00a0 but they also need flowers that provide nectar, in case they must fly farther to find the milkweeds (and this year, that’s important.\u00a0 Because of drought, the milkweed abundance is way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,4],"tags":[13,36,70,30],"class_list":["post-213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photography","category-wildlife","tag-beauty","tag-butterflies","tag-photography","tag-wildlife-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=213"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218,"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213\/revisions\/218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.80acresonline.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}