Fall migrations have started. Many summer-resident hummingbirds have started their trip to Mexico. Others that summer in more northern locales are stopping in at area feeders for a much needed pit stop. Please keep you hummingbird feeders up, clean and full until Halloween.
“Journey North” is a website that collects & shares migration information from around the world with a variety of species. Want to see maps of where hummingbirds have recently spotted? Or where the Monarch butterflies have recently been seen? Just enter “Journey North” into your favorite search engine. They have pages dedicated to Whooping Cranes, Bald Eagles and Gray Whales in addition to pages on hummingbirds and Monarch butterflies. Monarchs are also on the move. If you want to have a butterfly garden, you must avoid using insecticides, herbicides and pesticides. Butterflies are very susceptible to chemicals and Monarch numbers are plummeting.
To help Monarchs more milkweed plants are needed throughout the US. Monarchs require milkweed to complete their life cycle. Adult butterflies can get nourishing nectar from many types of flowers but need milkweed onto which lay their eggs. Monarch larva (caterpillars) only live on milkweed plants.
As you work in your garden this fall please limit your chemical use until the Monarchs have moved on. Also consider planting patches of milkweed in your garden, alongside your road and outside your fields and pastures. Milkweed can be toxic to domestic animals. However it has a nasty taste and most animals will not eat it, IF they have enough suitable forage.
Some milkweeds do better in confined gardens others can be more invasive. Some like drier sandy soil while others don’t mind having damp roots. Do a little research before selecting the variety that works best for your chosen location. Milkweeds that like to spread, might be the perfect variety, for that hard to mow, half-mile of ditch that you have.
Monarchs may have been named the Kings of the butterfly world but they need a little help now. “Long live the Monarch!”