Let's take a brief break from birds this week to focus on butterflies, specifically the beautiful Monarch Butterfly. Coming late in my life to an appreciation of birds, I come even later to an appreciation of butterflies. Oh, I've always thought them beautiful. Even put in a butterfly garden a couple years ago, but not until this year, when I began to photograph them, did I recognize the unique beauty of each of the many species visiting my property.
Most people recognize the Monarch not only for its beauty but also for its amazing migration south each fall to Mexico, where it winters. But what they may not know, and what I only just learned, is that the Monarchs who make this incredible 3100-mile journey are of a special, long-lived group known as the Methuselah Generation.
To learn more about Monarchs and their "Methuselah Generation" read this article at bestday.com--but just briefly here . . .
The typical Monarch lives only four to five weeks, including all its life stages, "starting as an egg, going through the larva period, morphing into a pupa or chrysalis until it reaches the adult stage when it reproduces, and finally, dying" (as cited in the article above). However, toward the end of summer, a special breed of Monarch is born with Herculean abilities for these must travel to Mexico and back again. Of course to complete the quest, these Monarchs must live much longer lives--up to eight months!
In the Hebrew Bible, Methuselah is mentioned as the oldest man ever to live (969 years). To the typical, short-lived Monarch, those of their brethren carried thousands of miles by the high winds so as to carry on the species are indeed of the Methuselah Generation.
Till next time . . . Keep birds and butterflies in your heart!
Georgia Anne
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