Dear Friends,
In thinking about this past summer of Monarchs, I made this short reel to not only celebrate Dia de Muertos, to not only provide images of wildflowers that support Monarchs throughout their breeding period and migration, but to also encourage everyone to vote. Vote as if the very survival of Monarchs depended upon your vote. Not just Monarchs, but all living creatures. The EPA, National Parks Service, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, NOAA, and states rights to help our environment are just some of the protections under brutal attack.
For more: White House Watch: Tracking Attacks on Our Health and Environment
Monarch Summer 2026
We had a truly beautiful summer for Monarchs here on Cape Ann, with reports from all around the Island of Monarchs in gardens and meadows. Beginning in July, Charlotte and I collected over 50 eggs in our garden and we had at least 50 successful chrysalides. We stopped counting after 50. I think perhaps we were so fortunate because we had many warm, dry days or possibly because Common Milkweed is taking over my front borders. The wind currents also have much to do with whether or not northward migrating Monarchs are shifted toward the east. Whatever the reason, we were overjoyed to be blessed with so many eggs and cats.
Overnight Monarch Roost
After such a great summer, and because the goldenrod everywhere looked so lush and dazzling, I was hoping for a spectacular migration. The migration turned out to be fairly steady, but nothing like the ones we had in 2006 and 2012. I check for Monarchs everyday, sometimes twice a day, beginning on September 1st. Each day I found a small passel here and a small passel there traveling through. The most in one day was almost two dozen on Eastern Point drinking nectar from the Seaside Goldenrod. We did have one small overnight roost of about 11 or 12 in a Black Cherry tree. Although we on Cape Ann had modest numbers migrating along our shores, Cape May, which is 400 miles south and a major stopover on the Atlantic Coast Monarch’s migratory route, had a banner year.
Monarchs have already begun arriving in Mexico. Many are now outfitted with teeny tiny radio transmitters, called The The BlūMorpho Transmitter, and we are learning so much more about the migration. For example, it has been thought that Monarchs migrate during the day and that Atlantic Coast Monarchs take the safer land route, hugging the coastline. But, as you can see from the maps below, a number of the Monarchs tagged at Cape May have been recorded flying non-stop at night over the Gulf of Mexico.
How to welcome Monarchs to your garden – Note that in this short reel, in the upper right corner, I’ve labeled all the clips with the name of the wildflower (and one tree species) that the Monarchs are either drinking nectar from, depositing eggs upon, or roosting in. Plant these wildflowers and when it’s a good year for Monarchs, you, too will be blessed with a bevy of butterflies (and not just Monarchs!)
