The Story of the Monarch Butterfly

Photos courtesy Charlie Kiesel

The study of the Monarch Butterfly reveals some very interesting facts. The fifth generation that we find in Southern Indiana, in September, is the generation of Monarchs that will fly to the mountains of Central Mexico to spend the winter. It is the Monarch generation that is tagged in two locations nearby, one at the Fox Ridge Nature Park in Vincennes, Indiana, and the other at the Sloughs WMA area about 10 miles west of Henderson, Kentucky. This is where Audubon State Park conducts their Monarch butterfly tagging events in September. The naturalist at the John James Audubon State Park has incorporated one of my videos of the birth of a monarch butterfly into the program she presents to the public before the group begins the journey to the Sloughs WMA area for butterfly tagging. I will share that video during my presentations in July at the Princeton Public Library.

The Monarchs are tagged in order to follow their migration south in the fall. Some Monarch Butterflies have been known to fly over 2,000 miles to Central Mexico. Tagging of Monarch Butterflies began when a Canadian Scientist became interested in discovering where the Monarch’s migrated to for the winter months. To his surprise, he discovered after years of research, that they migrated all the way to the mountains in Central Mexico, in some cases thousands of miles away from their September homes in Southern Indiana and elsewhere. He eventually travelled to Mexico to see the millions of butterflies in their winterland. Some of the tree trunks and tree limbs could not be seen because of the butterflies on them. The Monarch Butterflies were packed so closely together it truly was a wonderland of butterflies.

My program also will include photos courtesy of Lori Nordstrom of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service who visited the winter home of the Monarch Butterflies and walked among them in Central Mexico. She is now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Ecological Services Assistant Regional Director, Midwest Region.

For several years my wife, Janice (Atkinson) Kiesel, and I raised monarch butterflies from the caterpillar stage to mature butterflies ready to be released for their flight to Mexico beginning in September. Watching them attach themselves to a leaf or on the top of a container is a very interesting part of the transformation process. The caterpillars create a chrysalis around themselves, which seems a process of struggle, and finally they begin to transform within the chrysalis, becoming a beautiful butterfly. Just a few days before they emerge from the chrysalis the beautiful wings of the Monarch can be seen through the now transparent chrysalis.

Even if you are not interested in raising Monarch Butterflies, you will enjoy the program and witnessing the process. Additional information about the migration will also be of extreme interest, something a scientist from Canada spent 38 years investigating.