It is such an amazing sight to see! So glad they are back. I’ve seen them in previous years over at Ardenwood and in Pacific Grove.
Article says “The monarchs decide where they want to go and where they get their needs met. So if it was too dry here, if we didn’t have enough nectar sources, if we didn’t have the wind protection that they needed, they would decide to go elsewhere.”
How would they do that? Do they send out scouts to reconnoiter where the good places are? How would they get back to the main body of butterflies headed south? How would they communicate?
I understand that one generation of Monarchs does not make a complete round trip. Succeeding generations “know” by instinct where to go for their winter grounds. But if that is true, then wouldn’t the butterflies always go to the same destination? How in the world can a new generation headed south know that their instinctual destination is poor on food or inhospitable and head somewhere else?
Nature is amazing.
I know there have been salmon in Los Gatos Creek recently. But it's been decades since a salmon has been there, so these are not salmon returning to where they were born.