Outdoor Ontario

Wildlife Reports => Toronto Wildlife => Topic started by: Howieh on October 22, 2010, 11:48:53 PM

Title: Roosting monarchs videos
Post by: Howieh on October 22, 2010, 11:48:53 PM

I posted these for pickup by someone else but it just occurred to me that there are many here who might also enjoy watching them. They were shot a few weeks ago on the Leslie Street Spit with a Canon SX210. The files are quite large but should pose no problems for anyone with a reasonably fast connection.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13400530/Spit%2 ... %20056.MOV (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13400530/Spit%20monarch%20roost%2018%20Sep%202010%20056.MOV)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13400530/Spit%2 ... %20052.MOV (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13400530/Spit%20monarch%20roost%2018%20Sep%202010%20052.MOV)

Title:
Post by: Andreas Jonsson on October 23, 2010, 02:01:23 PM

Cool.  I've never seen a Monarch roost. Thanks for sharing. I thought I saw a a bird in the tree (early in the 2nd video). Looked like warbler type bird, yellow. Do they eat Monarchs?

Title: feeding on monarchs
Post by: Howieh on October 23, 2010, 07:17:09 PM

Quote from: "Andreas Jonsson"

Cool.  I've never seen a Monarch roost. Thanks for sharing. I thought I saw a a bird in the tree (early in the 2nd video). Looked like warbler type bird, yellow. Do they eat Monarchs?

That's a really good question. I don't remember seeing any birds around during the two separate visits to the roosting tree but of course I may have missed something. Most birds avoid eating monarchs because the milkweed makes them taste very bitter. More info on this can be found here:

http://www.globio.org/glossopedia/artic ... ?art_id=41 (http://www.globio.org/glossopedia/article.aspx?art_id=41)

The bit about the fire ants attacking milkweed caterpillars is very interesting. I wonder if the same thing happens on the spit?

Title:
Post by: Andreas Jonsson on October 23, 2010, 09:21:10 PM

Thanks for the link. Interesting reading.