Saturday, February 18, 2012

Wondering about monarch butterflies.

I saw on TV this morning a report on the migration of the monarch butterflies. They come from all parts of the country and end up on wooded hill in Mexico. It is amazing how such a fragile looking butterfly can travel that far and survive. The biggest danger to their existence is loss of habitat for laying eggs. They only lay eggs on milkweed plants which serve not only as place to lay the eggs, but as a food for the larvae. Urban sprawl has killed off oh so much milk weed that it is starting to affect the amount of monarchs for the next generation.



Have any of you ever witnessed a migration of monarchs? I was lucky enough to do so once in my life. I was out archery hunting one evening on a friend’s hunting lease a couple hours drive north of where I live. Just as the sun was setting, thousands and thousands of monarch butterflies came in and started landing in a couple of trees. They filled up the trees, and it was a sight to behold and one I sure felt lucky to see. The chances of seeing this is probably a lot less than once in a life time. No words can describe the sight, it was so very awesome!! I was so very lucky to be in the right place at the right time and the only one to see them. By the time I got back to camp, it was dark and after being there for the last couple of nights, it was time to head for home, since we all had to be at work the next morning, so I was the only one that saw them.


It amazes me that something so small and delicate could travel that far and what is more a wonder is how they could navigate from all over North America to that one wooded hilltop in Mexico!!


We have had, and are still having lots of rain. It started about 04:00 this morning with the first wave of thunder storms coming through the area. One hundred percent chance of rain today. You all have a great day now, you hear?

7 comments:

  1. On one motorcycle trip we ran into them in deep south Texas. But never saw what you did . must have been amazing. I found out it takes 3 generations to make the complete trip.

    Lifecycle

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ben, I didn't know that it took up to three generations to make the trip. I just took the time to study up on them.

      Delete
  2. I saw the same news story this morning..even recorded it for my kids to see. The fourth grade at my daughters school raised monarchs last fall. I was in many ditches looking for milkweed to send to school. I have been trying to figure out to get a piece of art work ready for an up-coming show. I was going to pare it down and just make it a recycled art piece. but after the news story I'm back to a recycled piece with a message about land use in America. sleep is overrated anyway. tick tock, better get to work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jill, now don't burn the candle at both ends, you will not like what happens when it burns to the middle. Good luck on your project.

      Delete
  3. We have lots of milkweed thru this area. One year there were so many of the monarchs, you killed ??? driving,,hated that.
    Uh oh,,2 word verification DD? And they can't be read most of the time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dang....finally got the comment winder to come up after bout a hunnert reloads. But anyhows....I like butterflies.
    I had a similar experience as Ben when rid'n my old Harley chopper. Run slap dab into bout a hunnert gazillion Monarchs com'n back from Mexico (the butterflies, not me). They was so thick I had to pull off the road an' take a break.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Trouble & BB, not much milkweed around my place. BTW, I removed the word verification.

    ReplyDelete