Monday, June 2, 2014

on the road


i started to learn more about the monarch butterfly. they make an incredible journey from the northern states and canada down to mexico, california and florida each year to escape the cold winters. they leave the colder areas around october and travel over 2,500 miles. depending on their starting point and destination, it could take them anywhere from 2 to 6 months. once they made it to their summer homes - they hibernate.

in february thru march they start the trip back north. but these butterflies do not live as long. instead, it takes three generations to make it back - each generation living 2 to 6 weeks and getting further north. and then the process starts again.

the monarch butterfly has the most highly evolved migration pattern of any known species of butterfly or moth and perhaps any known insect.

so now that i had milkweed in my garden… i would be one of their stops.

as many as 60 million butterflies cluster together, covering whole tree trunks and branches, in hibernation in the Oyamel fir forests of Mexico

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