Monarch Migration

Video Version Here

Autumn is the time of year when monarch butterflies make their way south to winter-over in warmer climates.

Here in Alabama, we are on that migration path, so that we can see several monarchs on their journey southward in the fall season. Last year, while staying at The Grand Hotel in Fair Hope, I came across several monarchs. Evidently, they are a symbol of The Grand, as they stop here every year to lap up the nectar from the flowering plants that are specifically planted for them. I was able to take several close up photographs of these beauties.

One even landed on my chest, directly at the level of my heart, and rested there for several seconds.

I’ve learned about this migration through the years, with some facts that have truly surprised me.

Scientists only relatively recently, in 1975, discovered the location of their overwintering site in central Mexico. Native peoples have been aware of the mass of butterflies that form huge roosting clumps in the branches of oyamel trees, but US scientists were not aware. Prior to that discovery, scientists thought that monarchs overwintered as pupae, or singly. I was astounded that we didn’t know of this until so recently. I even pulled out my father’s old National Geographic magazines and found an article from that time describing the find.

Another amazing fact about the migration is that scientists have been tracking the monarchs by placing identification tags on their wings, now as tiny stickers, the diameter of pencil erasers. Then, volunteers collect dead butterflies and mail them back to the laboratory.

A single monarch does not make the up to 30,000 mile round trip journey. It takes four generations of monarchs to complete the cycle, with the southbound butterflies living eight times as long as their parents and grandparents. Beginning in March, monarchs leave their roosts to begin the journey north. Along the way, female butterflies lay their eggs only on the  milkweed plant. The resultant caterpillars then chow down on the milkweed leaves until it’s time to form a chrysalis. The emergent butterfly then continues the migration northward until it’s time to stop, mate, and lay her particular batch of eggs.

The migration southward begins September to October, and the 500,000 or so monarchs arrive at their roosting sites in November. They remain there during the winter months, then the cycle begins again the next March. To make this long south-bound journey, monarchs enter a phase termed diapause, putting a pause to reproduction and accumulating and storing lipids that provide the nourishment to make the trek.

So that monarch that landed on my heart last year had probably already traveled a great distance and was fueling up to continue on to central Mexico.

I felt blessed by that butterfly as I have felt blessed before when my family witnessed a swallowtail’s transformation from caterpillar to butterfly. (See here for that blog post)

It felt like a blessing for me on my life’s journey. I want to believe that she was telling me, “You have come far, Renée. You have still farther to go. Rest up, fuel up, get a sense of where you’re next going. Hone in on HOME, where you will be surrounded with warmth and comfort. But enjoy this journey, too. It’s fascinating!”