The Great migration ǀ of ǀ the endangered ǀ Monarch butterfly ǀ Monarch Butterfly Grove Pismo

The monarch butterfly migration season is just about a month away. With the onset of the fall season, sometime in mid-August, the monarchs will leave their home in the Rocky Mountains and fly south to overwinter in the warmer coasts of California and Mexico in order to escape from the harsh winters in the North.
Interestingly there are 2 very distinct sub-populations of the monarch in North America. The population that resides on the western side of the Rocky Mountains are called the Western monarchs and the population on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains are called the Eastern monarchs.
This video is about my experience of visiting the Monarch Butterfly Grove at Pismo, California during the monarch migration in January 2024. Monarch Butterfly Grove at Pismo is one of the largest congregation sites in California for overwintering western monarchs.
The monarch butterflies that roost in the Monarch Butterfly Grove are the western monarchs. They fly around 300 miles before they reach the Grove sometime in October. The best season to view the western monarchs is between November and February. The eastern monarchs travel an incredible 3000 miles to reach Mexico to overwinter.
The monarchs of North America, are the only butterfly species that undertake a 2-way migration like birds. And they are known to undertake the longest migration in the insect kingdom. With warmer weather after February, sometime in March, the butterflies begin their return back to the Rockies.
Of the several roosting sites of monarch butterflies in California, the Monarch Butterly Grove at Pismo is one of the largest congregation sites for the western monarchs. It is a publicly owned site and entry to the place is free.
When I visited the Monarch Grove in January this year, a few thousands of western monarchs had already reached the Grove. The Grove, is full of tall eucalyptus trees, and these trees form the perfect roosting place for these migrating western monarchs. Looking up, what I saw was mesmerizing. There were literally hundreds of western monarchs in clusters on the leaves of the eucalyptus trees.
The butterflies are tiny and may not be easy to see with the naked eye. The Monarch Grove has thoughtfully installed binoculars so that one can view the butterflies effortlessly.
The monarchs are generally unable to bear very cold weather and on cold, windy days, they huddle up in clusters to keep warm. When the sun is out, they perch with their wings open.
Milkweed is the only host plant for the caterpillar of the monarch butterfly. And adult butterflies contribute in the pollination of the milkweed plant.
Sadly enough, the last few years have witnessed a steady decline in the migrating monarchs are threatened by loss of habitat, usage of excessive pesticides to control milkweed, which is the only host plant of a monarch caterpillar. The last few years have In 2022, the migrating monarchs were placed in the IUCN list of endangered.
The life span of a single monarch is not more than 6-8 months. The migration is not an easy one and many don’t make it.
The interesting thing is after mating the male monarch dies. And female moves northward to lay eggs on milkweed plants and eventually dies. The caterpillars that hatch and metamorphosize into adult butterflies are the ones that continue to fly northwards. This new generation of butterflies mate, lay eggs and die and the process continues. It is still unknown how the successive generation of butterflies know how and when do they have to return to the wintering sites in the south.
Please refer to the following links for more information on the Monarch butterflies:
LINK: www.parks.ca.g...
www.fs.usda.go...
www.nationalge...
experiencepism...
Link to the map of the Monarch Butterfly Grove, Pismo
maps.app.goo.g...
Link on the IUCN status of the Monarch butterfly:
www.iucn.org/p...
Link on the life cycle of the monarch butterfly
www.jetir.org/...

[@psaxena4662]

Beautifully captured and great information Kamolika .simply awesome

[@kamolikamyspace9423]

@@psaxena4662 thank you so much Pradeep

[@gopinathm8357]

Beautiful presentation & information 😍😀 So so so lovely 🦋🦋 Great & kudos to effort n video ka ❤👌👌

[@kamolikamyspace9423]

@@gopinathm8357 thank you very much Gopi

[@reshmasusan]

Beautifully captured and documented ❤

[@kamolikamyspace9423]

@@reshmasusan thank you so much Reshma

[@featheredfriends1977]

Fantastic indeed 👌🌸🌸

[@kamolikamyspace9423]

Thanks so much

[@naveenkapoor7408]

Nice presentation!

[@kamolikamyspace9423]

Thank you for watching Naveen

[@kovaioriole3834]

Fascinating story beautifully presented👍👍👍 Congratulations 🎊

[@kamolikamyspace9423]

@@kovaioriole3834 thank you so much Sir

[@ganeshanmanthiram6977]

Awesome 😊😊

[@kamolikamyspace9423]

@@ganeshanmanthiram6977 thanks so much Ganesh

[@harish.ngowda8124]

Beautifully documented ❤

[@kamolikamyspace9423]

Thanks so much Harish

[@DivineWildlife2882]

Well documented, great information. Explanation is Bang on ❤❤❤❤❤

[@kamolikamyspace9423]

Thank you so much Sandeep

[@WildlifeWithManishKadam]

Beautiful 😍

[@kamolikamyspace9423]

Thanks so much Manish for watching and commenting. 🙏

[@soumyajitmistry]

Khub sundor hoyeche ❤❤

[@kamolikamyspace9423]

@@soumyajitmistry thank you so much Soumyajit