Every once in a while, here at our home in Arkansas, we see a beautiful monarch butterfly. Both Janis and I love them because they are so beautiful, but that is about all we knew about them. That was until I got to be friends with a fellow Kiwanian by the name of David DeRosa.
David did a program for our club a while back about the monarch butterfly, but sadly I had to miss this particular meeting because it came at a time when Janis was in the hospital having knee-replacement surgery. However, I was interested enough to go to the Internet and check out the subject.
What I saw was almost unbelievable. The monarch butterfly migrates all the way from the northern part of the United States to the mountains near Mexico City, Mexico. David was kind enough to share his speaking notes with me, so what I want to share with you is due to his time and research on the subject. He lived in Mexico at one time and actually got to visit the area where these beautiful creatures migrate. After you finish reading about them, see if you don’t find this subject as fascinating as I do.
David says the mystery of the monarch is a relatively recent discovery, and there are still aspects of the migrations that are not fully understood. Then he asks the question: “Have you just recently seen them in your garden?” The timing was in late October. While born in the north, the monarchs can’t stand the extremely cold weather, so they come through our part of the county about this time of the year on their way to their wintering place in Mexico.
Migrating monarch butterflies travel in colonies of about 20 million insects and will travel between 80 and 120 nautical miles per day, depending on the wind and other weather conditions. The butterflies take advantage of ascending warm-air currents, gliding in the thrust they provide, needing only to flap their wings when the air current diminishes a little or when they change their flight path. This technique uses their energy efficiently, and this physically enables them to undertake the long journey. They travel only by day and roost overnight, usually in branches or on trunks of trees.
Time out: Here I thought about God’s role in the miraculous journey. No radar or airport control towers are needed to keep these beautiful creatures on track. To be sure, this is miraculous. By around mid-November each year, the monarch butterflies will begin arriving in Mexico. They settle in the Oyamel fir tree forests situated in the eastern perimeter of the Mexican state of Michoacan, also bordering the state of Mexico, in the forested mountains west of Mexico City.
Monarchs can travel between 50 and 100 miles per day, and it can take up to two months to complete their journey. Thanks to the work of Dr. Fred Urquhart, a Canadian zoologist, they have been able to tag the monarch to determine their migration patterns. The farthest ranging monarch butterfly recorded traveled 265 miles in one day. In 1973, Dr. Fred published an ad in a Mexico City newspaper looking for volunteers to collect data on the monarch. A young couple volunteered to drive a Winnebago, towing a Jeep with a motorcycle hitched to the back. In 1975 they made their discovery about the migration patterns of the beautiful monarch butterfly.
As they say, “Where there is a will, there is a way.” Thanks David.
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(For a personally signed copy of my new book ‘Your Future Begins Today’ send $20 — includes postage & handling — to Jim Davidson, 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)