By BILL DANIELSON
The monarch butterfly is one of the most iconic creatures of the natural world. Large (for a butterfly), colorful and engaging, the monarch is an insect that almost everyone can recognize.
If I mention the names of other beautiful butterflies that can be found in our area, take the eastern comma, or the question mark, for instance, I might get a blank look. Say the word “monarch” and faces light up with recognition. However, the real magic of this species is the fact that it migrates in a very dramatic way. Small children learn about this in school and once that story is learned, it takes hold in the imagination and never lets go.
This was certainly my experience as a child. I can remember how the monarch butterfly was used as an example of the insect life cycle. Egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and then butterfly; the story of how an organism can transform itself from really made an impact on me. And then of course there is the famous fact that monarch butterflies are poisonous. Who could ever forget the idea that bright colors might actually advertise danger?
So, generations of American children have learned about monarch butterflies in school and those generations grew into adults who remember their story. Monarch butterflies found a place in our collective heart and they now adorn all sorts of consumer products from mail boxes to table linens, coffee mugs to greeting cards. People see images of these insects all the and the positive feeling associated with monarchs is reinforced. It is entirely possible that the monarch butterfly is the one butterfly that many people can identify and it is clear that people care about monarchs.
So it was with great anxiety that I, like so many other people across America, noticed a definite drop in the numbers of monarch butterflies. In 2016 I only saw a single adult during a summer that had gorgeous weather that allowed me to be outside more than any summer since the 1990s. I was looking for them, but they simply weren’t there and their absence was unsettling. Humanity had been messing with the environment and the monarchs were paying the price. But I was not the only person to notice.
I started receiving mail from the Environmental Defense Fund. It is entirely possible that you have also received some of their mailings that contained beautiful cards adorned with big, bright photos of monarch butterflies on flowers. Along with the cards came a letter asking for help. Chemicals used in agriculture were accidentally destroying the milkweed plants that the monarchs depend on and the monarch population was in decline. I felt bad and sent them a check.
But why did I feel bad? I think it was because the child that learned about monarch butterflies so many years ago still kept a place where the monarch lived in my heart and my imagination. Something that was so positive when I was little was in danger now and I wanted to help. This is why education is so important and, at least from my point of view, why environmental education is vital. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: You can’t care about something unless you know something about it.
So it is with excitement, happiness and pure joy that I report that this was a wonderful year for monarch butterflies. I’ve seen them everywhere and I’ve seen them throughout the summer. Every time I’ve gone down to the Thinking Chair I’ve seen multiple monarch butterflies dancing over the meadow grass as they look for flowers. I’ve seen them on roadside plants as I drive home from work, I’ve seen them in fields and in towns and I even saw them on Martha’s Vineyard. They have been everywhere.
The last week of September is the last week of the year when monarch butterflies are at their most abundant. Soon they will start their southward migration to Mexico and by the middle of October, they will all be gone.
So the next couple weekends will be the last opportunity that you have to see if you can spot a monarch before they all leave us. But this shouldn’t be too difficult this year. All you have to do is look for flowers and you will probably see one of these beautiful butterflies.
My meadow is full of asters and the asters are full of monarchs, but this week’s photo was taken in a mowed lawn where a single dandelion flower had emerged. I used this photo because I wanted to impress upon you that you don’t have to go anywhere special. You just have to go outside.
Go to a local park, go for a walk in a beautiful garden, or go to a high school football game and keep your eyes on the edges of the mowed grass where small flowering plants might have escaped the spinning blades. Chances are that you will see a monarch.
If you do manage to see one, then I want you to imagine this creature flying to Mexico. Wind and rain must be endured. Huge urban areas must be bypassed. Imagine how difficult it must be and how astounding it is that it has happened again and again for hundreds, thousands, perhaps even millions of years.
Bill Danielson has been a professional writer and nature photographer for 24 years. He has worked for the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, the Nature Conservancy and the Massachusetts State Parks and he currently teaches high school biology and physics. For more in formation visit his website at www.speakingofnature.com, or head over to Speaking of Nature on Facebook.