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Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) begin their annual fall migration in mid-August. These butterflies are the great-great-grandchildren of the monarchs that migrated to Mexico last fall.
You can help monarchs by providing food (nectar) and keeping those areas protected:
- Turn a portion of your lawn into a wildflower meadow—plant milkweed or other native wildflowers.
- Delay mowing areas with milkweed until later in the fall.
- Avoid using herbicides—they kill all life-stages of monarchs (egg, caterpillar, cocoon, and adult).
- Report sightings of adults online. View a map of the sightings so far this year.
Don’t know when their migration peaks in your area? Check out this migration chart.
Photo by Sandy Van Vranken.
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Excellent suggestions! Get involved – planting a pollinator garden is a good first step that almost anyone can do. Soil and seeds and you are done!
Decades ago, on a windless blue sky September afternoon, I was privileged to witness an infinitely long tube of monarchs migrating southward, as my wife & I sat on a rocky ledge above the east shore of Lake George.
The diameter of this undulating tube was about 10 feet and hundreds of thousands of them were moving in unison, only a few yards in front of our gob-smacked faces. Unforgettable and breathtaking, it was a reminder of how fortunate we are to live in the Adirondacks.
Wow, that’s awesome!
I too witnessed such a spectacle performed by the majestic monarch! Was down around otsego lake, early 1970’s or so
We had a great amount of butterflies this year until the hay lot next to us was sprayed to get rid of a pest .
Heartbreaking.