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FINALLY! Monarch Butterfly News Spurs Extreme Interest in Native Milkweeds
Last week, the Mexican government announced the number of Monarch butterflies counted at the ancestral roosting sites in the oyamel forests of Michoacán, Mexico. The population grew by almost 70% since...
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Survey: Monarch Butterfly Enthusiasts Will Pay More for Clean, Chemical Free...
A Texas Butterfly Ranch survey conducted in late 2014 found that Monarch butterfly enthusiasts are willing to put extra money where their beloved Monarch caterpillars mouths are: on clean,...
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Q & A: Dr. Lincoln Brower talks Ethics, Endangered Species, Milkweed and...
At 83, Dr. Lincoln P. Brower has studied Monarch butterflies longer than anyone on the planet. He first became enamored of butterflies as a five-year-old in New Jersey and later Dr. Lincoln...
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Marine Biologist Launches App to Track Monarch Butterflies on Oil Rigs in Gulf
Monarch butterflies resting on an oil rig rope in the Gulf of Mexico in Oct.-Dec. 1993. Photo courtesy Dr. Gary Noel Ross “The experience on the rig was certainly an unforgettable one…to see the...
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Let the Migration Begin: Milkweeds Sprout as Monarch Butterflies Arrive in Texas
Monarch butterflies left their roosts in Michoacán, Mexico, on March 24 in what appears to be their latest departure on record, citizen science organization Journey North reported this week....
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Thanks, El Niño: Llano River Hosts Milkweed Buffet for Monarchs and other...
First I’d like to say, “Thank you, el Niño.” I haven’t seen the Llano River or the milkweed and other wildflowers this robust since 2010, the year before the historic Texas drought hit our state....
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Tropical Milkweed OK for Monarch Butterflies, “Just Cut the Dang Stuff Down”
“Can well-meaning people sometimes make things worse?” That was the provocative subhead on an article by Dr. Jeffrey Glassberg, founder and president of the North American Butterfly Association (NABA)...
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IH35 to become Pollinator Corridor for Bees, Monarch Butterflies, and other...
President Barack Obama has an exciting plan on the table with special meaning for Texas: Interstate Highway 35, known as IH-35 or I-35 in the Lone Star State, will be the focus of a national strategy...
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$300K Grant Awarded to UTSA to Study Monarch Butterfly, Inventory Texas...
The Texas State Comptroller’s office awarded the University of Texas at San Antonio a $300,000 grant to study the Monarch butterfly this week. Dr. Janis Bush, a plant ecologist and the university’s...
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Increased cash, awareness, rain, egg-laying: good news for 2015 Monarch...
What a difference a year makes. At the end of 2014, we were hanging our heads contemplating the end of the Monarch butterfly migration. The 2013 -2014 season was the worst in history, with roosting...
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How to tag a Monarch butterfly in six easy steps
NOTE: The following post ran in September of 2012, but warrants reposting today. Happy tagging! One of the most common questions we get at the Texas Butterfly Ranch is how the heck do you tag a...
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Q & A: Journey North’s Elizabeth Howard talks tech, citizen science, mass...
We’ve all read her bulletins. From the appearance of the first eggs in March and April to the massive wave of Monarchs pulsing through the Texas funnel in the fall, Elizabeth Howard, 60, keeps Monarch...
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Mighty Monarch butterflies brave south winds, Hurricane Patricia to arrive in...
Those of us who tag Monarch butterflies often compare the activity to fishing: you just never know what kind of day to expect. South winds kept Monarchs in place the week of October 19. Cluster in...
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Late season Monarch butterflies create gardening quandary
It’s mid November and Monarch butterflies continue to visit my San Antonio pollinator garden. Lighting on Cowpen daisy, Duranta, Gregg’s Purple mist flower and several kinds of milkweed, the...
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Guidance on milkweed management confuses butterfly gardeners
Confusion reigns for gardeners and Monarch butterfly enthusiasts trying to “do the right thing” managing their late season milkweed, the host plant of Monarch butterflies. Monarch laying eggs on Swamp...
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Texas Comptroller’s office provides update on Monarch butterfly research, ESA...
About 35 people attended the second Monarch Butterfly Task Force working group meeting in Austin on Thursday, December 17, to hear updates from the Texas State Comptroller’s office on the status of...
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Lawsuit seeks ESA Monarch butterfly listing, turns up heat on commercial...
The battle to list the Monarch butterfly as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act inched forward last week, as the Center for Biological Diversity and Center for Food Safety announced...
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Good news! Monarch butterfly population triples
The 2015-2016 Monarch butterfly population census is in and the news is good: the iconic migrating insect that has become a symbol for climate change and pollinator advocacy in three countries is on...
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Scientists try to assess Monarch butterfly mortality after Mexican freeze
Scientists have been scrambling to assess the mortality of the roosting Monarch butterfly population in Michoacán, Mexico, following a freak March 11 winter snowstorm that dropped temperatures to sub...
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New study: nectar plants more important than milkweed for Monarch butterfly...
A research paper published April 27 in the journal Oikos is causing a stir in the Monarch butterfly world. The paper challenges the conventional wisdom that the major cause of the decline of the...
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