The Amazing monarch flight across America

Here is a modified extract from “Miraculous Migration”, written by Carol Crupper.

Each spring, newly-emerged monarchs join several generations of butterflies that advance northward across the central and eastern United States towards Canada, setting the stage for a mass migration of hundreds of millions of monarchs southward each August across the Great Lakes and 37 states. During their full flight, fourth-generation monarchs travel up to 2000 miles in two months, seeking refuge from winter’s cold beneath the canopy of umbrella-like forests of Central Mexico.

The extraordinary journey of the beautiful, but fragile creatures is one of the nature’s most phenomenal cycles. Thousands of people are working to preserve the migration.

Scientists have studied monarchs for more than a century, but didn’t discover until 1975 that the southbound butterflies were destined for winter grounds in Mexico.

Monarch Watch was launched in 1992 by volunteers from Canada to Mexico. From scientists to schoolchildren and from rural residents to city dwellers, they share a love for nature and appreciation for the miraculous migration of monarch butterflies.