Butterfly Ladies, James Christensen americangallery.wordpress.com/2010/09/26/james-christensen-1942/
Have you heard? Scientists have announced the discovery of a new planet that may have life on it. It is a mere 20 light years away and is being called the “Goldilocks Planet” as it is assumed it is not too hot and not too cold, but just right. “Goldilocks” may have liquid water (their term) which means the planet may be able to sustain life.
I have had a post on monarch butterflies sitting in abeyance for some time now. It is a place in my blog site where I can put drafts of pictures and stories and ideas that I may want to write about. What I call my cyberfile. There, I have had a working title, Monarch, and a few websites stored for future reference. On my desktop are pictures, stored in other files; pictures I have taken and images from other sites that I may want to borrow.
I started my draft file on monarchs after a few posts and conversations with Marilyn, a blogging pal from New Zealand. Marilyn posted a picture she had taken with a Monarch butterfly on a flower. It was beautiful, as Marilyn’s photos are, and I was curious about monarchs down under, specifically, did they migrate to and from New Zealand. Their climate is milder than ours up here and the monarchs there do not migrate, but, cluster in areas there. You can find more about them by clicking onto Marilyn’s blog here and on the links listed below.
I was thinking about this as I was hearing about Goldilocks and her little planet. I tend to live in my own little world; my life here on the cutoff, my town, my activities, family and friends. I’m a little planet with all my satellites swirling around me, I have what I need to survive. Food, water, air, love and I don’t have to go very far to find all of this. Not even a lightyear away.
Discovering new planets is far from my purview. I am content to sit here and research on my computer and gather with family and friends and see monarchs in summer and wonder about them without having to go very far. The monarchs, however, travel thousands of miles to protect their species.
I know two ladies, our own monarch ladies in our garden club, who have travelled far in search of the monarchs. Pat was the first, then Jane went along on a second trip. They have trekked thousands of miles to the place where the monarch migrates to each year. I admire them their courage and stamina to make this trip and I am in awe of the monarchs, who make this trip every year, from as far north as Canada, across the United States, to a small area in Mexico where they overwinter, gathered in the thousands, massing on tree branches, their wings at rest as they bask in the sunshine.
Our monarch ladies travel to schools and libraries and garden clubs to tell of the life cycle and migration of monarchs. They also give warning of the danger monarchs are in. Development has eradicated a large part of our prairies where the milkweed plant grows. Monarchs lay their eggs only on milkweed. (There is a milkweed variety in NZ that the New Zealand monarchs lay their eggs on as well). Jane and Pat provide information on planting not only milkweed, but nectar bearing plants as well, so that this lovely winged insect can have nourishment and places to rest along the way.
Schoolchildren and adults are encouraged to not only plant for the monarchs, but, to tag them as well. In tagging monarchs in the fall, citizen scientists can help determine how many monarchs are actually reaching Mexico. The tags go gently on a monarch’s wing. Mexicans then gingerly collect the tags, which will tell where the monarch originated from. They are given money for each one found. This money, in turn, helps sustain them throughout the year. In very small mountain villages, the monarch migration is a greatly anticipated occasion where man and nature meet and are sustained by each other.
It is all so fascinating, here on our planet, how monarchs and ladies and scientists and you and I are connected in the most amazing of ways. You may see the lovely monarch traveling in large groups in your area right about now as they head southward on their instinctual yearly migration, fourth and fifth generations, or more, from the ancestor monarch who made it to Mexico previously. You might see a lone one, flitting about, looking for nourishment or a place to lay her eggs. Won’t you take a few minutes, or bookmark for later, a few of these sites, especially Monarch Watch for those of us in North America, to see what monarchs are all about and perhaps think of planting some host plants? Won’t you stop by for a look no matter where you live to learn more about these most beautiful of butterflies?
www.monarch.org.nz/monarch/projects/taggingtransects/
www.odt.co.nz/news/national/55670/nzer039s-flight-simulator-find-clues-monarch-navigation
A monarch unit was always a 4th grade project in our school. I was privileged to participate in it for the years in which I taught that grade. We collected our milkweed with an egg on it and followed through the whole life cycle. It was posted outside our classroom doors “It’s a boy” or “It’s a girl”.
That caused much confusion especially when we had thirty signs up. We had a higher survivor rate than nature! Each release of a butterfly was a celebration!
I am not real concerned about another planet that sustains life when there are always such marvelous things here. If there is life on other planets or if I could live on another; God will give me the information if and when I need it. Otherwise, I won’t dwell too much on it. I just enjoy the wonder that is creation both here on Earth and light years away.
The monarch unit is such a valuable learning experience for young children on so many levels. What is especially amazing is that the monarchs that are raised are imprinted with the instinct to carry forth and they, or their “offspring” know to migrate. Children love these projects and I hope we can continue to have in our curricula for them. Pat, that I mention above, raises monarchs. I think you would like her and Jane.
I agree, Janet, we have all we need right here on earth.
Such an interesting post. A friend and I were sitting on my deck recently and a monarch came by. We were saying how ephemeral they appear to be and yet they must be quite hardy. I always planted swan plants on the farm and in my classroom. They never failed to fascinate .
Ephemeral is such a good way to describe the monarch. Can you imagine these wonderful little butterflies traveling all that way. I was amazed to discover your swan plant their in NZ. Isn’t nature amazing?
Lovely post Penny and thanks for the links to my monarch photos. I think monarchs are such beautiful butterflies and their migration from North America to Mexico is beyond comprehension. I read somewhere that they not only return to the same tree but they return to the same branch, even though they don’t migrate very far in NZ they do this. Just amazing. I like it that Mexicans help with the monarch research and that this in turns help the Mexicans.
As for new planets, I am in love with this one, I leave it to Jeff to think and wonder about new ones.
Thank you, Marilyn. Your photos always amaze me. Isn’t it interesting the questions and posts that transpired from your first picture of a flower and a monarch? The cycle of the monarchs’ life and its impact on the people that life in the area where they migrate is pretty amazing.
I agree, I”m fine with the good earth we live on.
Marilyn, I love your photos and your information about monarch. Thanks for the lovely images.
[…] mentioned Jane and Pat before. They are at times referred to as our butterfly ladies for all their efforts in saving and tracking the beautiful monarchs and all the butterfly gardens […]