Chip Taylor, a Kansas University biology professor and director of
the Monarch Watch program, will chat about attracting butterflies,
monarch waystations and other butterfly-related topics.
To learn more about Monarch Watch, visit www.monarchwatch.org.

mpaget

What are the best plants to use in a home butterfly garden?

mpaget

What time of year do monarchs migrate through our area?

Moderator

Hi, everybody. Thanks for joining us for today’s chat. Chip Taylor with KU’s Monarch Watch program is here to answer your butterfly-related questions. If you have more questions, feel free to post them during the chat. I’m Terry Rombeck, a features reporter at the Journal-World, and I’ll be your moderator today.

Chip Taylor

Hey folks we are connected. I’ll try to answer as many of your questions as I can.

Moderator

People are starting to plant their gardens this time of the year. What should they be looking for in terms of good options for attracting butterflies?

Chip Taylor

One needs to consider two things to attract butterflies: the host plants needed by the caterpillars, and the nectar/energy sources needed by the adults. If you visit our Web site, you will find a long list of butterflies and their associated host plants. We also have a substantial list of nectar sources used by butterflies. The web site is www.monarchwatch.org.

lawrenceks66

My son, daughter and I planted milkweed and this past summer raised 28 monarchs (which is SO much fun)! We counted how many males and how many females but don’t know how to “tag” them. What do we need to do? and do/can we report the above numbers somewhere?

Chip Taylor

Actually, what we do is use the tagging program to learn more about the monarch migration. If you would like to become involved with the tagging program, you can visit our Web site and order a tagging kit, or you can wait until the second Saturday in September, when we have the public tagging event a the Haskell/Baker Wetlands, in conjunction with the Jayhawk Audubon Society, and you can learn how to tag butterflies at that time.

mpaget

I understand there are other butterflies and possibly moths that look like monarchs. How can I be sure the creatures I see in my garden are actually monarchs?

Chip Taylor

The only other butterfly in this area that looks like a monarch is a viceroy. A viceroy is slightly smaller and has a semi-circlular band on the upper side of the hind wing that the monarchs do not have, making it easy to distinguish this species from a monarch. Viceroys are actually much less common in the city than monarchs are, because they use willows and small cottonwoods as hosts for the larvae.

mpaget

What’s the difference between a butterfly and a moth?

Chip Taylor

There is no set of universal characteristics that distinguish all butterflies from all moths. However, butterflies are all day-flyers and are usually brightly colored, while most moths are night-fliers and dull-colored. There are some day-flying moths that are brightly colored, usually to advertise their unpalatability to predators. These moths can be distinguished from butterflies because they lack a clubbed antennae.

Moderator

Are there particular books you’d suggest for butterfly identity?

Chip Taylor

There are many books on butterflies of North America, and there are many regional books defining butterfly species found in particular states. I don’t have a favorite among those books. Nowadays, you can find a lot of information on almost every butterfly in North America at a U.S. Geological Survey Web site, so if you have the common name of any butterfly or even the hint of a name like “blue butterfly,” you can type it into Google, do a search and come up with amazing amount of information — far more information than is available in most field guides.

loudmouthrealist

I recently read that you came out in favor of establishing Monarch waystations along the Kaw river between Burcham and Constant park.

Are you still in favor of these waystations in light of the fact that the Lawrence Parks and Rec. Dept has agreed to “maintain” the trails along this area for the proposed KREOS (Kansas River Expression of Soul)project.

Undoubtedly, “maintenance” of these trails by Parks and Rec will certainly entail spraying herbicides and possibly even pesticides.

Chip Taylor

Regarding the Kaw River “Expression of Soul” site, it sounds like an excellent place to introduce milkweeds and establish a monarch way station. However, I’ve told Marie Thompson that I’ll visit the site soon and make a decision as to whether we wish to participate in the project.

Moderator

Please tell people a little about the way station program.

Chip Taylor

Two years ago, we initiated a program which we call Monarch Way Stations. The idea is to create habitats for monarch butterflies. The justification for this project is the startling fact that we lose 6,000 acres in this country each day to development. That’s 9.37 square miles, or 2.2 million acres per year. In another 18 years, we will have lost an area to development equivalent to the size of the state off Illinois, our 25th largest state. This is an astounding rate of habitat loss, and we have to become aware of it and do something about it. Monarch way stations are our way of dealing with this issue, and it’s quite effective. If you create a habitat for monarchs, they will use it and reward you, but you also will have contributed to the monarch population and will have helped sustain the monarch migration in eastern North America.

Moderator

How’s the population looking this year?

Chip Taylor

The overwintering population in Mexico was of only modest size — some 6.7 hectares, a bit below average. However, the monarchs wintered very well. There were no storms, no unusual weather, and they wintered well. When I was in Mexico in late February, I was very favorably impressed by the condition of the butterflies. Their wings were in excellent shape, and the abdomens were still full of fat — a good sign. In recent weeks, the monarchs have been moving into Texas and now are as far north as Oklahoma and Arkansas. We’re getting numerous reports of monarch sightings and several people have indicated they have found more monarch eggs than they have seen in any previous year. The weather for the last 10 days in Texas has been excellent for monarch reproduction, so it looks like we’re off to a good start. Monarchs could be seen in Kansas, if this weather holds, as early as the first week in April, but they usually aren’t seen in the Lawrence area until the 14th to 21st of the month.

Moderator

When is your spring open house and fundraiser this year?

Chip Taylor

Our spring open house and plant fundraiser will be from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, May 12. This year, we will have at least 3,000 plants with eight different types of milkweeds including three species that have previously been unavailable. In addition, we will have numerous nectar plants that are suitable for monarch way stations or butterfly gardens. In addition, we will have lots of displays including a living beehive, and other things that will be of interest to children and curious adults.

Moderator

That does it for today’s chat. Thanks, Chip, for answering our questions. Again, you can get more information at www.monarchwatch.org.

Chip Taylor

Thanks for your interest in Monarch Watch, and hope to see you at the open house on the 12th of May. And don’t forget the fall tagging event at the Haskell/Baker Wetlands.