Preserve and cherish the pa the only home we’ve ever kn le blue dot, o w n . ~ Ca r l S a g a n
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The Miraculous Monarch Migrants
Our Annual Visitors Are Coming Through, and They Need Our Help By Dr. Lenore Tedesco, Executive Director of The Wetlands Institute
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t’s fall in Cape May, and that means one thing: It’s time for the great migrations of wildlife headed south to warmer climates and abundant food. Cape May sits on one of the world’s great migration corridors, and in addition to being on one of these great highways, this narrow peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay is also an important stopover point. Think of it as a great truck stop on an interstate system. The abundant beaches, farms, meadows, and forests of the peninsula are perfect places for migratory wildlife to rest and refuel before making the first of many dangerous crossings over open water.
Most people are familiar with the globally famous fall migration of eagles, hawks, and falcons through Cape May, and know that spending time at the Hawkwatch Platform in Cape May Point State Park on a sunny fall day with a good north or northwest wind is a rewarding venture. Perhaps fewer are familiar with the great southbound migration of seabirds that occurs just offshore. The Seawatch on the north end of Avalon is where scientists count the strings of nearly a million seabirds migrating south from their North Atlantic breeding areas. More than 60% of all sea ducks breeding in the Western Atlantic pass by or winter
off Seven Mile Beach, making Avalon Seawatch one of the greatest natural spectacles in North America. Cape May is also an important breeding area for monarchs and a stopover for migratory monarch butterflies as they make their way south to the mountains of Mexico to spend the winter. Butterflies migrate to avoid unfavorable circumstances that can range from weather and food shortages to even overpopulation. The most well-known migration is that of the Eastern population of monarch butterflies, but several other species of butterflies and moths are also migratory. The painted lady, common buckeye, Ameri-
can lady, red admiral, cloudless sulphur, numerous skippers, question mark, and mourning cloak are all butterflies that migrate, and many can be seen in the area nectaring and roosting as they pause on their long journeys. Monarch butterflies are remarkable and tough. Every time I think of their life history and journey, I marvel at all the things about nature that we just don’t understand. It takes four generations of monarchs to complete a full migration cycle! Monarchs arrive in central Mexico in October and overwinter in the mountains, where they huddle in great masses in a type of pine tree. They sleep in these
The Monarch Sequence
Monarch egg on milkweed.
Monarch caterpillar on milkweed.
Monarch caterpillar beginning to form chrysalis.
Monarch chrysalis continued on page 82
Seven Mile Times Endless Summer 2023
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