Roosting monarchs videos

[Howieh]

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%2 ... %20052.MOV

[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?

[Howieh]

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

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

[Andreas Jonsson]

Thanks for the link. Interesting reading.