What happened to the monarch butterflies? Pismo Beach grove reports record-low numbers.
According to California State Parks Interpreter Danielle Bronson, the Pismo State Beach Butterfly Grove recorded a record low number of butterflies wintering in the area this season. The results are similar to the rest of the state, which has also seen a marked decline in the fluttering population in the past year.
Volunteers from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation counted only 2,300 butterflies at the Pismo Beach grove at this season’s annual Thanksgiving Day tally.
That number was down roughly 81 percent from the 2017 count of 12,300.
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I know pesticides and herbicides have had a terrible impact on the butterfly populations. In addition to that impact, I wonder if climate changes might be also be making concentrated overwintering less necessary and thus throwing off the true counts because Monarchs are overwintering in other spots? Its November and I am still seeing Monarchs flying around the burbs here in SoCal.
I have only seen two or three butterfly species over the past few days. The cold-snap we had a few days ago really did a number on insect species. I suspect acombination of climate change, pesticides, and habitat degradation are working in tandem.
What area are you in? Yes I agree that there are a lot of factors in play. Been doing our part with an organic butterfly / pollinator garden and planting natives at the nature preserves but conservation is an uphill battle. :o
I'm in San Diego. We had a cold-snap night about 3 weeks ago which took out about 65% of the insects. A few days ago, another one which took out most of the rest. I saw a European mantis, Largus, and grasshopper(devastator) today near one of our reservoirs. No butterflies.
More rain on Wednesday of this coming week. I love rain but also look forward to seeing the first Sara Orangetip in Spring.
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