An Incredible Journey
An Incredible Journey is the flight of the Monarch Butterfly. Each fall, North American monarchs travel from their summer breeding grounds to overwintering locations. East of the Rocky Mountains, monarchs travel up to an astonishing 3,000 miles to central Mexico, whereas the shorter migration west of the Rockies is to the California coast.
Decreasing day length and temperatures, along with aging milkweed and fewer nectar sources trigger a change in monarchs; this change signifies the beginning of the migratory generation.
Similar to the Hummingbird as I mentioned last week. Amazing how these tiny little creatures both travel farther then most giant birds.
Orientation is not well understood in insects. In monarchs, orientation is especially mysterious. How do millions of monarchs start their southbound journey from all over eastern and central North America and end up in a very small area in the mountains of central Mexico?
From across the eastern U.S. and southern Canada, monarchs funnel toward Mexico. Along the way, they find refuge in stopover sites with abundant nectar sources and shelter from harsh weather. Upon reaching their destination in central Mexico beginning in early November.
Scientist say they do not learn the route from their parents since only about every fourth to fifth generation of North American monarch migrates. Therefore, it is certain that monarchs rely on their instincts rather than learning to find overwintering sites.
What kind of instincts might they rely on? Other animals use celestial cues like the sun, moon, or stars), the earth’s magnetic field, landmarks, mountain ranges or bodies of water.
Of these, the first two are considered to be the most likely cues that monarchs use, and consequently have been studied the most.
So when I see a monarch like this one who just stopped by my yard for one day, I imagine the incredible journey this little one is on. They have no worries about anything except survival, getting to their destination and continuing life as is written.
An Incredible Journey
38 Replies to “An Incredible Journey”
Nice
Beautiful pictures Sandra – I am finally here to read and enjoy the photos. The Monarch photos are just beautiful! P.S. I’ve encountered another blogger’s post where I had to leave anonymous on to post.
Nature is a mystery
Yes it is. 😊
Wow, awesome clicks 😊
Thank you Amber 🙂
Hi Sandra – leaving a test message here on your actual site as well.
Is this Linda? Because the name on this message just says someone.
Looks like this is the one I have to fix. 😊
Hi Sandra – I got your message – I had that problem a couple of weeks ago and I am wondering if it is just leaving messages on the actual site, so I will try that as well.
Thank you Linda, yes it is hard to figure out how to fix these issues sometimes.
Hopefully WP finds the bug since it is happening to others as well.
Beautifully photographed and wonderfully written, great work! 🥰
Thank you very much 😊
Thank you Sandra. There is much here. I appreciate the effort you put into this. And the last sentence sounds very familiar. Blessings
Thank you very much RJ, 😊
Wow
Stunning!!
Thank you 🙂
It’s stories like this that invoke such compassion for life. Mysterious and beautiful, Sandra.
Thank you Don, yes it is true beauty and wonderment how nature thrives and how they continue life.
beautiful!
Thank you 😊
Beautiful.
Thank you very much Tim 🙂
I have read many recounts of the Monarch’s migration and you are on of the very few that has differentiated between the shorter western migration and the much longer eastern migration to Mexico. I have seen the western migration destination at Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula in California. Very impressive. Seeing the Mexican site is on my bucket list.
I would love to see the Mexican sight as well, I did see the documentary movie about the flight of the Monarch and where they end up is just amazing. Thousands of them all in some trees down there. What a sight that would be.
🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🙏
Thank you very much Francine 🙂
Thank you very much Francine. 🙂
👌👌👌📷🦋🌼
Thank you very much 🙂
Wonderful photographs of the beautiful Monarch Butterfly!
Thank you very much 🙂
Mother Nature is such an incredible mystery…some things we’ll never understand and that is okay!
Yes, nature does what it has to do and we can learn from it 🙂