Migrating Monarch Butterflies (10-3-2010)

When I think of migrating I think of the birds flying down to the south to escape the cold weather but there are other animals the migrate too...like my beautiful butterflies, that I love so much.   Monarch butterflies overwinter in a several isolated mountain forests in central Mexico. Some accounts describe so many Monarchs that observers can actually hear the sound of their wings moving. Some of these insects travel thousands of miles each fall— all the way to the mountains of central Mexico. I find it to be an amazing adventure for such a fragile creature.


I remember when we lived in Dallas, Texas we were walking to school one fall morning and the lawns (I kid you not) were filled with groups of Monarch Butterflies....they were on all the lawns as we walked to school, so beautiful...The news that night said we were on their migratory path and please do not touch them.  The butterflies were letting the morning dew dry from their wings before they could fly away.  What an awesome sight!!! 

So like the birds, Monarch butterflies are famous for their annual migrations.

Monarch Butterfly ready to be released!

 

Plant Milk weed in your butterfly garden if you want to host any monarch caterpillar's. 
The caterpillar's only eat this plant it is toxic to whoever tries to eat them!