All of my life, I have absolutely loved butterflies. The fact they start off as caterpillars and then turn into a beautiful butterfly enthralls me. Monarch butterflies are really a true beauty with their bright orange and red wings. Every year, they make the move to migrate south from Canada to Mexico in the fall, then they make their way back to Canada in the summer. Because of this migration, thousands of monarchs will fly by and congregate in colonies where they cover the limbs and branches of trees. Sometimes the weight of the butterflies actually cause the trees to sag. Check out this amazing migration.
Are these a bunch of leaves? You might be surprised as to what this really is.
It’s hard to tell what exactly is covering the ground here.
This almost looks just like the bark of the tree.
Even a closer look makes it hard to tell what this is. Even when you zoom in a little, it’s not clear.
Are those mushrooms? Moss? Leaves?
Any guesses? It’s none of those things.
Wrong! Those are beautiful butterflies! TONS of them!
Monarch butterflies, to be exact, during their migration.
These butterflies are migrating across North America for the better part of a year. They start in the fall, then come back during the summer. They travel between 1,200 and 2,800 miles or more from Canada to central Mexican forests where the climate is warm.
Monarch butterflies are known for their yearly migration over long distances.
It’s hard to even tell what they are without taking a closer look, considering there are so many of them.
These photos were taken during their migration. No individual butterfly actually ever completes a round-trip migration.
The length of these journeys exceeds the normal lifespan of most monarchs, so the butterflies pass the torch to the younger generations.
It’s overwhelming to think what these tiny, beautiful creatures do every year.
Unbelievable!
The Monarch butterfly and their yearly migrations are just one of those many things on this Earth that seem simple, but are absolutely stunning. How do the butterflies know where to go every year, especially when no one butterfly makes it through the entire journey?