Monarch Butterfly Migration

Monarch Butterflies are migrating big-time through our property right now. It makes us so glad that our garden is planted with loads of butterfly-attracting flowers. We counted 14 Monarchs in the garden yesterday as we sat and ate our lunch on the garden bench. Very magical. Made us feel like we were in a butterfly house. The male Monarch, shown in above photo, can be told by the little black dot ( called stigmata) on the vein of each hindwing.

Monarchs migrate to the center of Mexico and overwinter. They come back to southern areas of the U.S. in spring and lay eggs and those offspring are the ones who continue the journey northward. The last generation of Monarchs born in the autumn are special. They are the longest lived and the ones that migrate to Mexico in winter. And so the cycle continues again each year.