A daily photo from Ōtautahi, Christchurch, New Zealand
The monarch butterflies have started ‘over wintering’ in Christchurch’s parks again. You can see them en-mass clumped together in the trees of various parks all around Christchurch. These ones are in Abberley Park in St Albans.
wow, so many. nothing like them, so many.
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There were even more there last year. They are quite stunning to watch!
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Glorious!
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What impact did the non-native monarch butterfly have on local fauna? And this goes for milkweed, too.
I see no reason to rejoice for the disruptions we keep causing to the environment.
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As the monarch made its own way to New Zealand, it is considered a native.
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I too was curious how the monarch made its way to NZ. Now I know. Thanks Michelle!
Beautiful pictures as always!
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Amazing! I am used to insects considered Holarctic that end up having been transported by humans. This kind of colossal move from the Nearctic to Australia and later to New Zealand is absolutely incredible. Apparently there are a handful of other butterflies and moths that made this unbelievable journey and found enough of the right food and habitat to make a go of it. It is all circumstantial evidence but rather compelling.
I will certainly keep reading about this.
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Monarchs hitch hiked on ships to spread around the World. So they were introduced to New Zealand and Australia inadvertently by man around 1850-1860. Ditto in regard to milkweeds. Milkweeds from South Africa were inadvertently introduced to New Zealand and the temperate zone latitudes of Australia and they began growing along roadsides and margins of crop fields. The monarch butterfly migrations in New Zealand and Australia and 100% dependent on these African milkweeds because no native milkweeds ever existed in New Zealand or the temperate zone latitudes of Australia.
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Monarchs were not able to breed in New Zealand until around 1850-1860 when non-native evergreen milkweed plants from South Africa were accidentally introduced and because established as weeds in and around crop fields and other forest clearings. So the monarch migration and winter clustering phenomenon in New Zealand is 100% man made (accidentally). Ditto in Australia, Portugal & Spain.
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Paul Cherubini’s comments make a lot more sense. Accidental transportation by ship of both the plants and the butterflies is far more plausible than crossing the ocean by mere wind power. Apparently, so far, nobody has studied this thoroughly enough, so I will keep looking for other references.
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I did a bit of Googling on this and it’s hard to find any information on how they got here, so a lack of study would explain that.
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In California, in late fall and winter, the monarchs cluster in urban situations just as they do in New Zealand. Here’s an example of a monarch cluster in golf course eucalyptus trees in the San Francisco Bay Area: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwJonXh1BRc
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Hello,
Welcome to Christchurch Daily Photo, my (mostly) daily photo blog about Christchurch New Zealand. If you are new here, start with Michelle’s Favourites as these are some of my best photos.
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Ōtautahi / Christchurch Daily Photo 
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