Monarch Butterflies Flying South for the Winter

The butterfly season is almost over and most of the Monarch Butterflies have emerged and will be heading south to mexico for the winter. Watching these majestic creatures over these past few months has been astonishing and we have learned a great deal through this experience.

It all started with a little bit of Milkweed and from there we stared seeing daily visits from Monarchs in our garden. Monarchs need Milkweed for their survival. The butterflies are attracted to the plant’s specific nectar. The life cycle for a Monarch from egg to butterfly is about 30 days. They lay their eggs on the leaves of the Milkweed and the eggs hatch after about three or four days. A tiny little caterpillar hatches and consumes the leftover egg as its first meal. The tiny caterpillar eats Milkweed for about two weeks and after weeks of caterpillars munching on Milkweed there was almost no leaves left of the plant. Caterpillars grows so rapidly that it sheds its skin five times and consumes its shed skin each time. When the caterpillar has fully grown it crawls off (traveling up to 30 feet away) to find the perfect spot to form a chrysalis. Once the caterpillar has chose a spot to transform it creates a small sticky disc to hang itself from and there it will sit for about a day in the shape of a J. Then the caterpillar is ready to begin transforming it starts to wiggle and squirm until the caterpillar’s skin is shed and a chrysalis emerges surrounding it body. The transformation or pupa stage takes about 10-14 days as the caterpillar is becoming a beautiful Monarch Butterfly. Once the butterfly’s transformation is complete it emerges with its wings all crinkled and wrinkled and has to hang upside down for a few hours while its wings dry and straighten out. When the wings have straightened and strengthened the butterfly is ready for some nourishment from flower nectar so it can brave the long adventure south to Mexico.

There are many predators, treacheries and possible sickness that the Monarchs have to endure and overcome. If you are interested in helping the Monarchs on their journey next year plant a Milkweed garden but don’t forget to pick up some free compost first.