I never realized the short life span they had until I went to the Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden last fall. It's a year-round indoor butterfly garden at the Strong National Museum of Play. They have about 800 native and tropical butterfly's that flutter around the gardens.


I just got email today from the National Wildlife Federation and it hi-lighted an article about Monarch Butterflies that was pretty interesting.

Strange Migration

Monarch butterflies are famous for their annual migrations. Some of these insects travel thousands of miles each fall -- an astonishing distance for such fragile creatures. Yet few people realize that the Monarchs we see in the spring are not necessarily the same ones that fluttered past in the fall.

Beginning in late September, the skies along the Gulf Coast of Texas slowly become filled with meandering groups of Monarchs. Their flight, while not hurried, is purposeful, moving southwest toward a small forest in the highlands of Central Mexico. These butterflies travel from southern Canada and the northern United States at a rate of approximately 50 miles per day. They'll spend the winter in a few small groves of evergreen trees, with each grove containing as many as 20 million butterflies. Sheltered from the wind and snow, the butterflies conserve energy, for they still have a lot of work ahead of them.

The Monarchs become active again in February. Mating begins, and the air fills with swirling masses of copulating pairs. The first warm days of late March trigger their northward flight. A close look at these butterflies, now eight months old, reveals that their wings are faded and tattered. Still, the Monarchs fan out across the southern United States, looking for Milkweed plants on which to deposit their eggs.

Four days later, the eggs hatch, producing small caterpillars that immediately begin to feed on the Milkweed leaves. Ten to fifteen days later, each caterpillar stops feeding and forms its chrysalis -- a beautiful soft green jewel flecked with gold. In another ten to fifteen days the chrysalis splits open, and a new Monarch emerges.

This generation of butterflies mates, lays eggs, and dies within the span of a few weeks. During this time it moves north, following the progress of spring and the emergence of Milkweed. By the end of summer, two more of these short-lived generations will have repeated the process, ultimately coming to inhabit the Milkweed patches in the far north latitudes.

Thus the Monarchs born in the Northeast and Canada in September are the great great grandchildren of the last Monarchs to inhabit the area. These are the ones that will head to Mexico. They're significantly larger than the three generations that preceded them and still sexually immature. Rather than mate and lay eggs, they seek out nectar-producing flowers. The nectar serves two purposes: some of it fuels the southward migration, and some of it is converted to fat reserves that sustain the butterflies through the winter.

This incredible annual cycle applies to all Monarchs east of the Rockies. The populations in the West follow a similar pattern, though their migratory path is westward, from the Great Basin to overwintering sites along the Pacific Coast.

http://enature.com/articles/detail.a...utm_campaign=3

That is very interesting, I just signed up for their enewsletter.

Hey! I'm so glad I saw this post. I love butterflies and photographing them! Especially Monarchs! Where did you get that butterfly kit?? I've got to have one for this year. That would be really cool to photograph them as they grow. Thanks for your help!

Wanted to share some of my favorite monarch pix...



This one is on Milkweed.

Jill - those pics are magnificent!

Jill, what beautiful pictures!

Jill your pictures are GREAT! The caterpillars came from my backyard, I had what you could call a butterfly garden (mom helped me BIG TIME)
I googled and here are a couple places you can get kits:
http://www.swallowtailfarms.com/page...ducts_brk.html
http://insectlore.stores.yahoo.net/

Jill - Sometimes in the very beginning of the planting season wal-mart has a plant called Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly weed) that the Monarchs lay their eggs on. At the end of summer the plant gives off TONS of seeds I'd be willing to send them to anyone who wants some, usually end of August.

Your photos are beautiful!!!

Thanks for the info and links! I'm going to try this this summer. Last summer was my first year of planting the butterfly weed and in the fall it produced a lot of seeds but I didn't save any. (What a dummy!) But I know what happened to them... they fell all over the ground where I set the pot for the winter. I guess that means I'll have some coming up??? I hope so.

This reminded me of the shots I got while a female was laying her eggs on the weed. The reason why I thought I might use a kit like you showed is that the tiny little catepillars that I saw, they didn't all mature and those that did, I couldn't find their shell or whatever it's called. I didn't get shots of the cacoon. I thought the kit would help.

I talked to my Mom and this is what she planted:
Milk Weed (she said it was a type she only saw in the south)
Pintas & Porter Weed

In my yard it was in a small area around my window in hers it is all over her yard.

Wendy, thank you for asking your Mom. I've never heard of Porter Weed, is it something you get from a garden center? I'll have to google it to see what it looks like.
I didn't realize you live in S. Jersey, I'm North Jersey! Guess I don't have to worry if it could survive the winters here! 8)

Thanks again!