Vince_Condella's Blog

How do those little guys do it?  They appear so light and flimsy, hardly able to hold their own against a light breeze.  And they can fly all the way to the mountains of Mexico?  Yes they can, and their journey begins now.

The Monarch butterfly is a classic symbol of summer in Wisconsin.  We see them flitting and flying around from flower to flower without a care in the world.  At least that's the way it seems to us humans.  Little do we realize that the typical Monarch adult lives only 3 to 5 weeks.  Before they die, they mate, lay eggs, and set the stage for the next generation of Monarchs.  And with a life span so short, there can be several generations in just one summer.

Something magical occurs this time of year, however.  Instead of dying off after a month or so, the adult Monarchs in September keep living.  Something triggers their migration.  Their destination is over a thousand miles away in the mountains of central Mexico.  And here's the weird part - they have never made this journey before.  Their great, great grandparents made the trip a year ago, but Monarchs this fall have never seen the map.

The Monarch migration is one of my favorite nature mysteries.  How do the Monarchs know where to go if they have never been there before?  How does a light and fragile butterfly survive the long flight?  The Monarchs must get to a warmer location because they are a tropical species.  They cannot survive the cold of our winter.  So they head to the mountains of central Mexico where it is cool but not frozen.  Millions and millions of Monarchs congregate from all over the country to the Mexican mountains.

In Spring, the Monarchs in the mountains of central Mexico begin travelling back into the United States.  They mate, lay eggs, and then die.  The next generation is born, keeps flying north, mates, lays eggs, and die.  The cycle continues until Monarch adults return to Wisconsin and other norther locations.

So when you look around during the next few weeks and see a Monarch butterfly, wish it well.  It has a long journey ahead, a magical adventure to south of the border.  No GPS needed, no roadmap.  Just a mysterious ability to get to a place it has never been.

How do those little guys do it?