We spent a couple of weeks in Kansas visiting relatives and happened to be there at the right time to see several monarchs as they were migrating through on their way to Mexico. Interstate 35 has been named the Monarch Highway since it runs through the central flyway of the eastern monarch butterfly migration route. 

Monarchs migrate between their breeding grounds in the northern US and Canada and their wintering grounds in Mexico. 

Six states are hoping to improve and protect monarch habitats along the I-35 corridor. Between private and public lands, the planting of milkweed and nectar plants (Pollinator Gardens) help to support the butterflies. 

Monarch caterpillars have a milkweed diet which cause the adults to be toxic. Their orange and black colors signal that they do not taste good so predators such as birds stay away. One taste and young inexperienced birds get sick and know not to try that again.  

Monarchs traveling south in the fall are considered the “super generation”. They have a longer lifespan of up to eight months, which allows them to complete the sometimes 3,000-mile journey south. Travelling from 50 to 100 miles per day under favorable wind currents. Due to marks on their wings, I noticed that each day there were different monarchs in the flower gardens. They were on the move replenishing their energy from the flowers.

The return in the spring is much different as each generation of these monarchs live less than four weeks. It can take up to five generations to return to their breeding grounds in the upper US and Canada.

Paul Sundberg