This one is special

We see Monarch butterflies all season long around the barn. This one here is special.

1 October 2011
It was just a few weeks ago I learned that Monarch butterfly caterpillars only eat milkweed. I had no idea. That's probably why we see them around the barn so much. There's milkweed everywhere.

Sometime when I was a little kid I had learned about the migration of the California Monarch butterflies. So well known I suppose because they gather in great clouds to migrate. And for some reason I was left with the impression the migration was unique to the California butterflies.

I had no idea that our local Monarchs migrate. I guess all Monarch butterflies migrate.

It wasn't until 1975 that the winter destination of our local butterflies was known. Years of investigation by a Canadian zoologist found the winter destination of the eastern Monarch butterflies. An assistant found the exact destination on 9 January 1975.

Which brings me to the little guy pictured above. He's special. Yes that is a male. Monarch butterflies live for 2 months. The reproductive cycle in this guy however has gone dormant and he'll live for 7 months. He's going to migrate. He'll travel only during daylight. Cruising 20 kmh at an altitude of 50 meters. Eating only milkweed. At night.

His destination is a 60 square mile territory in central Mexico. The butterflies gather there with as many as 20 million of them in an area 1/3 the size of a football field. There his reproductive inclinations will become active. He and billions of his friends will make more butterflies to migrate northward next Spring.

I think that's rather amazing. I'll bet he's in Washington DC by now!