Flat Aggie and the Monarch Migration

Greetings from Flat Aggie! I am writing to you from Mexico where I am watching the winter monarch hibernation. Monarch butterflies east of the Rocky Mountains migrate to Mexico and hibernate in Oyamel fir trees. 

Monarch butterflies that live west of the Rocky Mountains migrate to California where they will roost in Eucalyptus trees, Monterey Pines and Monterey cypresses. After traveling up to 3,000 miles, the butterflies arrived in October. Soon they will begin their long journey back to Illinois where I first started watching them. 

The butterflies that return to Illinois will be 5^th generation monarchs. Let’s take a trip back in time to last summer where my monarch adventure began.

Last summer I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of new monarch larva along with Mrs. McQueen’s students at Virginia Elementary School in Virginia, Illinois. Monarchs are complicated insects. They start their lives looking one way and change into something entirely different; and they do it in under a month! Monarch eggs can only be found on Milkweed.   

Milkweed can be found in sunny open fields, by the park, on the shoulders of country roads, in the ravine or in your own backyard if you plant it.  Milkweed loves sun and grows best in warm weather. There are many different types of milkweed, but I am standing by common milkweed.

 

 

Monarch eggs are usually laid on the bottom side of the milkweed leaves.  They are very tiny. 

Once the egg hatches, the caterpillar will survive on milkweed. In less than two weeks, a monarch caterpillar grows to 3,000 times its birth weight. 

 

The caterpillar will eat and eat and eat. It will also shed its skin 4 times. The students and I measured the caterpillars to see how much and how often they grew.

 

After about two weeks, the caterpillar is ready to make a chrysalis. It will hang upside down like the letter “J” for about 14 hours. 

The caterpillar will change by whirling and twirling in a “pupa dance.”

         

After about 2 weeks, the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis.

This butterfly that I am holding emerged a few hours ago.  

The black dots on this monarch tell me it is a boy! 

 

After 24 hours, the kids and I released the butterflies. 

We fed the butterflies Apple juice before we released them. 

It’s best to release them on sunny days.                                             

All summer, new monarch butterflies are born. The average lifespan of a monarch is 2-6 weeks. 

Monarchs can be seen sipping nectar from flowers and laying eggs on milkweed. Many community groups plant monarch  waystations to help butterflies find a safe place to feed and lay eggs.

 

In the fall, it is time to say goodbye to the monarchs. As the weather gets cooler, the days get shorter and milkweed dries up, the butterflies know it is time to migrate for the winter. The butterflies that leave Illinois will travel up to 3000 miles back to Mexico. They are the only butterflies to make such a long, two-way migration every year.

 For more information on Monarch Butterflies, check out monarchwatch.org and https://journeynorth.org/monarch/