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The sudden blast of cool air from yesterday’s storm seems to have seen off the many monarchs from my garden. They drank their fill from the tall spikes of purple liatris and anise hyssop and disappeared, now bumblebees are foraging around the leftovers.
Monarchs aren’t the only butterflies that migrate. At this moment at least fifty painted lady butterflies are fluttering about my garden as they continue on south. They are nectaring on the blooms of salvia, dahlia, purple hyacinth bean, scarlet runner bean, dill, cosmos and zinnias, mostly around the kitchen garden where the warm southern exposure creates a welcoming microclimate. At times they stop and bask on the steppingstones or wood siding of our house, sheltering from the chilly breeze.
Painted lady (Vanessa cardui) butterflies don’t make the dramatic migration like that of the monarchs however they do travel great distances. They are found in all continents except Antarctica and Australia. Notably they migrate from North Africa to the UK and back by the millions. In North America it’s thought they do a sort of mini-migration in search of food sources.
There may be more to it than that. Often we think there’s nothing more to learn but migrating insects are still a mystery in many ways. Remember the monarch migration destination was only discovered in 1976! Sounds like a citizen science project in the making.
Earlier this summer when I was speaking at a conference three hours northwest of here lots of folks kept telling me about all of these “orange butterflies” that they were seeing everywhere. We quickly determined they were painted ladies that had migrated north. I assume these are subsequent generations moving south. It must be a good year for this species.
Years ago the kids and I were lucky to witness a wave of painted ladies feeding on the chive borders in my Kansas kitchen garden. My son filmed the beautiful creatures with one of those huge video cameras of the day. I wonder where that tape has gone? I just texted him to let him know what an awesome experience that was to share with him years ago. Keep on planting for pollinators, so that his children and yours will see similar sights of wonder for themselves.
