the monarchs

every year a wonderful phenomenon occurs in nature which has fascinated entomologists and amateaurs alike.It is the migration of the monarch butterflies who travel great distances to spend the winter in a temperate climate.Some of these butterflies travel over 2,900 kilometers, just to overwinter in some places in Mexico.Each Autumn, thousands of Monarch Butterflies gather in southern Canada to migrate south.Monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains travel to small groves of trees along the California coast. Those east of the Rocky Mountains fly farther south to the forests high in the mountains of Mexico. Amazingly, not one butterfly makes the entire round-trip journey. As they travel,they breed and perish and its their children and grandchildren who move on to the next stop.



wondering what i'm talking about?well...last weekend we were very lucky to witness the tagging of these butterfiles who stop at St mark's national wild life refuge,FL every year on their southward journey.although St mark's does not host the largest number of them it was wonderful to witness one of the miracles of nature....at that instant,after years of urbanisation and resultant alienation from the elements...u want to burst with feelings of wonder and awe at the at once terrible and beautiful goddess Nature.