Gardeners may have noticed their flower beds are getting more visits from monarch butterflies at this time of year. Experts said the iconic orange and black insects are looking to fuel up before their migration to the forests of Mexico.
The East Coast of the United States is home to a wide variety of butterflies. But Lesley Ries, associate professor in the biology department at Georgetown University, said the monarch is unique and especially beloved.
“They just have such a fantastic story,” Ries said, explaining that each year they take advantage of high-altitude wind patterns to cluster en masse in specific habitats in Mexico.
Seeing the groups of butterflies clinging to trees in a way that makes them look like they’ve grown right on the branches, she said, “can be very spiritual and just like, give you the sense of the beauty of nature.”
“They also happen to be a particularly charismatic, large, easy-to-identify species of butterfly,” Ries added.
Their ability to migrate thousands of miles is especially compelling for many nature-lovers. But Max Ferlauto, the state etymologist with the Wildlife and Heritage Agency, part of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, said monarch butterflies are actually very hardy, and take advantage of high-altitude winds along their journey.
“They tend to have an easy time to do this over the Chesapeake, actually,” said Ferlauto. “The Delmarva coast has a lot of monarch butterflies as they’re traveling through those wind streams.”
Monarch butterflies also have a unique defense thanks to one of their preferred foods. Ferlauto explains they taste terrible to birds who like to prey on insects.
“The milkweed is the plant that contains those distasteful chemicals. The monarch butterfly has evolved over time to be able to eat it and it actually uses it as its own defense,” he said.
Many people purchase kits — often designed for children — to allow them to watch caterpillars undergo the metamorphosis into butterflies.
There are some differing opinions in the conservation field as to the benefits of doing that. Ries said that won’t increase the monarch population and Ferlauto explains that one group, the Xeres Society for Invertebrate Conservation, advises against the practice outside of education and research.
Both Ferlauto and Ries said breeding monarchs on a large scale can introduce disease into wild populations, but they also see an upside to the practice of allowing children the experience of collecting a caterpillar, providing it food and releasing it once it’s emerged from its chrysalis.
“The value of experiencing that can be priceless for the rest of that person’s life and potentially the degree to which they support conservation,” Ries said.
One of the best ways to help monarch butterflies, said Ferlauto, is to provide them with milkweed, notably, native species.
“Planting non-native milkweeds, for example, that are going to persist year-after-year, instead of dying back, they can increase the pathogen loads on that plant and increase disease in the migrating population,” he said.
Instead, Ferlauto said, check the varieties of native milkweed plants available in many garden centers.
“There are three main varieties I see sold in nurseries,” said Ferlauto.
There’s the common milkweed, swamp milkweed and butterfly weed, which is a variety of milkweed. Ferlauto suggests, “if you live along the Chesapeake, planting things like seaside goldenrod” can be especially beneficial. For gardeners, it has the added benefit of being easy to grow.
There are a number of events where you can go to learn more about monarch migration, including the annual Monarchs and Milkweed Festival at the Merkle Natural Resources Management Area in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, Monarch Tagging and Pollinators at Rollins Ford Park in Prince William County and Monarch Tag and Tea at Hidden Oaks Nature Center in Fairfax County.
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