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MONARCH LIFE CYCLE
- “HELLO, WORLD!”
  
  The magical metamorphosis begins when the female monarch searches for milkweed and lays her precious eggs.
- THE MUNCHING CATERPILLAR
  
  Monarchs depend on milkweed for survival. Their caterpillars only eat milkweed plants and butterflies use it to lay their eggs.
- PEEK-A-BOO METAMORPHOSIS
  
  Watch the chrysalis as the pupa changes from the body parts of a caterpillar into the body parts of a butterfly.
- WINGS!
  
  While beautiful, the distinctive colors of a Monarch’s wings warn predators that the monarch is foul tasting and poisonous.
MILKWEED
- MILKWEED – SPRING & SUMMER
  
  Gaining its name from the milky sap secreted when stems are broken, Milkweed produces some of the most complex flowers in the plant kingdom.
- MILKWEED – FALL & WINTER
  
  With more than 100 different milkweed species native to North America, the best time to collect common milkweed is in the Fall.
- BUTTERFLY GARDENING
  
  Monarch Waystations are places that provide milkweed and nectar throughout their spring and summer breeding areas in North America.
- MILKWEED – TAKE ACTION!
  
  Grow milkweed plants for Monarch breeding and to provide them with a food source. Grow nectar plants so Monarchs have energy for migration.
MONARCH MIGRATION
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2017 Massive Arrival at the Sanctuaries!

JOURNEY NORTH | Read full article
October 30, 2017 by Elizabeth Howard

“A harmonious parade of monarchs were streaming across the sky. I have not seen such a massive arrival in years,” wrote Estela Romero on October 30th.

Follow along as contributors to the Journey North blog share this important rite of passage for Monarch Butterflies as they return to their winter sanctuaries in Mexico for the winter.

Tom Pawlesh—American Airlines Pilot, Staff Photographer, Airways Magazine Contributor, and World Airshow News Magazine.

The Monarch’s Forest Ecosystem

Mexico’s Oyamel Fir Forest

Monarch butterfly overwintering colonies are found in the unique mountain habitat of the oyamel fir forest ecosystem, Mexico’s most endangered forest-type. The monarch overwintering sites are found on only 12 isolated mountaintops.