Yesterday we saw our first Monarch Butterfly of the season. Monarchs are a butterfly of great interest not only because of their beauty but also because of their migratory behavior.To learn about the Monarch Migration through a great slide show click here: Monarch Annual Cycle
The monarch in our backyard was newly arrived from Mexico. It was looking for a place to lay its eggs. The only type of plants monarchs can lay their eggs on are Asclepias also known as milkweed. They will lay one egg per leaf and can lay many eggs in one day. A single Female will lay around 700 eggs before she dies. And 700 eggs from just one butterfly means monarchs need a lot of milkweed!You can find milkweed at your local garden shop, or you can grow them from seed.
To find out more about the Monarch Migration, see Journey North's website. There you can learn more about monarch natural history, see live maps of monarch sightings, and even report your own sightings!
www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/
