22 October 2019

The Story of Monarch

Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Concord, Massachusetts

It is October on Great Meadows...
... Milkweed seeds are ready to leave... with their silky hairs, waiting for the wind...
   ... and Monarch butterfly comes to mind...

Monarch's life is inspiring storytelling of the nature's basis of being where all of IT matters...

The story begins (and ends) in central Mexico where Monarchs spend winters on just a few mountains in the microclimate of Oyamel (Abies Religiosa) trees. As the spring starts warming northern territories, the butterflies journey up north to Canada in four or five stops. On each stop, Monarch mother lays eggs on the leaves of Milkweeds and ends her life. Milkweeds provide food for her young and give them toxins for protection. In a matter of days, they transform to butterflies and take to the skies until the next patch of Milkweeds...
... and then the next... and the next...
... with the fourth (or fifth) generation of butterflies reaching the final destination.
In the fall, these "super" Monarchs head back to central Mexico by direct flight...
... where their life cycle begins again...

Milkweeds... Milkweeds... the name given to the toxic plants by humans...
... I wonder what is their name given by Monarchs ?...

Great Meadows: ... it is October... milkweed seeds are ready to leave...

Fresh Pond: ... and monarch comes to mind...

Fells: ... milkweeds provide food for their young...

Fresh Pond: ... in a matter of days, they transform to butterflies...

... and take to the skies... up north to Canada...

Fresh Pond: ... it is October... stopping on her way back to Mexico...

Fresh Pond: ... in time to meet flowers...

Great Meadows: ... milkweeds... I wonder what is their name given by monarchs?...