11/10/2024
Caterpillars in October? Really?
Nature is magnificent and the migrating South late this year, will probably make it to the end of journey and hibernate in Mexico!
Have you ever heard such a thing?
They don´t fly all at once pointing South / North when migrating.
Monarchs are not born at the same time and start migrating right after.
The Monarch Butterfly, by instinct, will migrate when they are willing to survive the cold winter, going away from snow in North America.
And viceversa, ending winter they feel the weather change to Spring and find out by instinct, it´s time to leave the winter homes in Mexico and fly back North to complete the annual migration they have been doing for thousands of years! 😲
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Credits to authors
Caterpillars in October?
At a time when fall roosts are typically the topic of conversation with monarch watchers, we've got some late caterpillars in some areas you wouldn't expect them. In Illinois, Cindy spotted this caterpillar last week, also reporting a chrysalis. For comparison, last year's latest larva report from Illinois submitted to Journey North was on Sept. 22.
We also received a report of three larvae in Nova Scotia on Oct. 7. Though many people have been reporting a late season for monarchs this year, these late observations aren't unheard of. We did receive a report of a chrysalis from Massachusetts on Oct. 29 last year and one from Maine on Oct. 5.
We'll see if this trend continues over the next few weeks, but keep letting us know what you're seeing!
Read more in this week's news update: https://journeynorth.org/monarchs/news/fall-2024/101024-roosts-ramp-texas-many-volunteers-reporting-late-sightings
