This morning as I went outside to move the sprinkler, I noticed a flutter on one of my Mexican Petunias. As I looked closer I was surprised to see a Monarch Butterfly sitting on the bloom. It was even color coordinated with the petunia!
Since I was there to move the hose, I didn’t have my camera. As I ran back to the house to get it, I was steadily praying, “Please, Lord, don’t let it be gone when I get back!” My prayer was miraculously answered and it was still there when I returned!
It may seem strange to many people, but I had such a happy feeling in my heart as I watched it being fed on the nectar of the flower. If I had not planted the seeds earlier this year and God had not made it grow, then these petunias wouldn’t have been in my yard to feed this butterfly on this day. It was a very satisfying feeling. I had something to do with helping this butterfly by supplying its needs.
Monarchs have been on the decline due to pesticides and loss of habitats, so to actually have one in my yard was exciting to me. Plus, to see a Monarch in real life is a beautiful sight! Their colors and the pattern on their wings are wonderful to behold.
As it traveled from bloom to bloom drinking the nectar, the Monarch was doing my flowers a service, too. It was pollinating my yard. It also made me happy to still have blooms in my yard to feed it! This is a great time to get to see them as they fatten themselves up to prepare to migrate to Mexico for the winter.
It stayed in my yard for about 20 minutes going from bloom to bloom. But, when it begins to migrate, it will travel 12 to 25 miles per hour using updrafts of warm air to conserve its energy much like birds do. When they reach Mexico, they will roost together in trees with millions of other Monarchs!
As I checked to see if Monarchs are common during this time of year, I found out that the Monarchs that we see now are called “fourth generation” butterflies. They feed on flowers that bloom late in the season such as goldenrods and asters. According to dupageforest.org “fourth generation monarchs are born in September and October and are biologically different from previous generations. They live longer (8-9 months) and do not mate or lay eggs until the following spring after they fly north and reach areas with milkweed. Their offspring and successive generations, which generally live only 2 to 5 weeks, continue the trip further north until monarchs populate virtually the entire eastern U. S. by June or July.”
In reading articles on them today, it cleared up some confusion that I had. It is the caterpillar that eats only milkweed. The butterflies themselves drink nectar from a wide variety of flowers with a mouthpart called a proboscis. But, the Monarch lays its eggs on milkweed so that the caterpillar has a ready source of food. As shared before, milkweed leaves have a toxic steroid that protects the caterpillar and butterfly from its predators.
If you want to help Monarchs to multiply in our area, now is the time of year to plant milkweed seeds. These seeds must have cold weather inorder to simulate the conditions necessary for them to initiate their germination process in the spring.
Since these butterflies are pollinators for our flowers, they help the whole process of the continuation of birds, bees and other pollinators which help put food on our tables. By helping our bug friends, we are actually helping those we love and ourselves.
Jesus tells us to “Look at the birds of the air...” Matthew 6:36 and as we look at the birds, we see other important things in the great outdoors that we must also look at, appreciate and take care of.
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