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Monarch Butterflies
Topic Started: Jul 17 2006, 01:15 PM (65 Views)
Kahu
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I've just seen a Monarch butterfly, in mid winter, sunning itself on a tree just outside the window. It's actually feeding on the nectar from Camelia flowers.
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Timetrvlr
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That's a bit unusual for mid-winter isn't it? Where do your Monarchs overwinter? Ours head for the mild highlands of Mexico but that is a flight over land. Do yours winter in the extreme north of North Island?

I saw a Monarch on my deck yesterday and it's the first I've seen this summer.
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Kahu
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Quote:
 
That's a bit unusual for mid-winter isn't it?
That's why I posted it, it is so strange. Mind you with climate change, funny things have been happening - I have record numbers of orchid flowers which don't normally start to appear until Nov - Dec.
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Do yours winter in the extreme north of North Island?
To be honest I don't know, that's something I'll have to find out.
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Kahu
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Originally from America, the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) has spread both naturally and by human intervention throughout the Pacific, Australia, parts of
Southeast Asia, and to islands in the Atlantic. It is not known how monarchs first arrived in New Zealand but they have been here since at least the mid 1870s. They have been in Christchurch for many years and it seems that their numbers are increasing, although very little research has been done on them here.

Christchurch City Council - Monarch Butterflies

Not much is known about them here, after all they are an exotic species. We actually sometimes get butterflies from Australia, especially after a bushfire season when the Butterflies are blown across the Tasman by high altitude winds.
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Timetrvlr
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They have been in Christchurch for many years and it seems that their numbers are increasing, although very little research has been done on them here.


I hope you come to treasure them in New Zealand as we do here, it may be their last stand. I understand that we are slowly losing them because their breeding grounds in Mexico are being destroyed by logging operations. It seems that North Americans can't co-exist with many species.
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Kahu
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Timetrvlr
Jul 17 2006, 05:44 PM
Quote:
 
They have been in Christchurch for many years and it seems that their numbers are increasing, although very little research has been done on them here.


I hope you come to treasure them in New Zealand as we do here, it may be their last stand. I understand that we are slowly losing them because their breeding grounds in Mexico are being destroyed by logging operations. It seems that North Americans can't co-exist with many species.

Maybe their numbers are increasing at the expense of endemic species? This requires at bit of extra research, come to think on it, I haven't seen any Red Admirals lately. What always seems to happen here is that the exotic species always seem to out perform the natives - plants as well as animals.
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Kahu
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It is a surprising fact that New Zealand, while possessing a fairly large and comprehensive moth fauna (nearly 1,200 species representative of 33 out of 61 families), is very poorly representative of butterflies, having only 16 species representing two families. Several species are not confined to this country.

Australian Butterflies in NZ

Manaaki Whenua - Land Care Research Database
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