The Magnificent Monarch

Nature 2 Minutes

I found an interesting article about Monarch butterfly facts on the Birds and Blooms website!

11 Fascinating Monarch Butterfly Facts

Emily Hannemann

Updated: Jan. 31, 2023

Learn facts about the monarch butterfly, including how to tell male and female monarchs apart and if monarchs are poisonous.

Monarch Butterfly Host Plant

There’s only one host plant for a monarch butterfly—milkweed! Choose native varieties for your area such as common milkweed, butterfly weed, swamp milkweed and showy milkweed. Create a monarch haven with our complete guide to growing milkweed.

Not All Orange Butterflies Are Monarchs

Soldier, queen and viceroy butterflies all are mostly orange and black and look similar to monarch butterflies. But they all have differences that set them apart. Monarchs have bright orange wings with multiple black veins. Their wings are edged in black with white speckles.

Male Monarch Butterflies

The easiest way to tell a male monarch butterfly from a female monarch is by looking for two dark spots on the hindwings—the female butterflies don’t have these spots.

A Female Monarch Butterfly Lays Hundreds of Eggs

A female monarch in the wild can lay up to 500 eggs on milkweed plants throughout her lifetime. Butterflies raised in captivity can lay even more.

Are Monarch Butterflies and Caterpillars Poisonous?

Caterpillars eat only milkweed, which contains a poisonous chemical that protects them from predators. The chemicals stay in their system to make even the adults taste bad. Bright orange wings let predators know that monarch butterflies are poisonous.

How Long Does a Monarch Butterfly Live?

These gorgeous butterflies are a welcome summer sight, but unfortunately, most of them don’t live long. The adult monarchs you see fluttering through your backyard when the weather’s warm typically live only about 4 or 5 weeks — just long enough to mate and produce the next group. It takes four generations of monarchs to complete their annual migration journey before ending up in your garden again. However, the fourth “super generation” that overwinters in Mexico can live for as long as eight months.

How Fast Do Monarch Butterflies Fly?

It’s all about speed for these butterflies. Monarch butterflies can flap their wings up to 12 times a second when flying at their fastest.

How Far Do Monarch Butterflies Migrate?

Here’s a fun monarch butterfly fact. These amber beauties could fly circles around other species. Monarch butterflies fly a long distance during fall migration, farther than any other tropical butterfly—up to 3,000 miles.

Monarchs Have a Great Sense of Direction

Monarch butterflies don’t need a GPS to locate their migration destination. Many of the gorgeous travelers find their way to the same exact location, perhaps even to one particular tree, where previous generations have wintered before. 

Monarch Butterfly Wings Need to Stay Warm

Monarch butterfly wings are fascinating and complex. In order for these delicate creatures to fly, their wing muscles must stay above 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

Where Do Monarch Butterflies Live?

You can find monarchs everywhere from cities to rural fields and mountain pastures. When breeding, they prefer open areas.

SOURCE: Birds&Blooms

Published by FJB

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186 thoughts on “The Magnificent Monarch”

    2. cool…do you watch? if you do, I would appreciate your take on things!
      Filly, you too!
      I can’t watch and would appreciate an opinion from someone here that i would believe!

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I’m curious and may watch. I’ve noticed something interesting – Pence hasn’t been slapped for his lies – nor mentioned at all by ANY Trump link – not even Don Jr.

        Looks like President Trump is just going to ignore the traitor.

        Liked by 2 people

        2. maybe he’s saving the best stuff for the “debates” so he doesn’t have time to prepare. he doesn’t seem like the type who can think on his feet

          Liked by 1 person

        1. if you don’t , that’s fine.
          I would rather hear it from people like you and GA whose opinions I trust far more than political pundits.
          i used to love the rally threads–you could feel the emotion and reactions from the people watching. i just don’t have the time to read thru so many threads any more

          Liked by 1 person

      1. It is beautiful! Altho the $$$ for it wasn’t donated until 2014, when David and I visited there in 2012, the plans were in place and there was a depiction of the statue at the Visitors’ Center. The real-life one is much more spectacular.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. “Wow imagine the beautiful views it saw… and all the different people and birdie cuisine… all in a month and a half… A female falcon was equipped with a satellite tracking system in South Africa before migrating to Finland. In just 42 days, she flew over 10.000 km (average of 230 km per day) and nearly in a straight line…”

    “Meanwhile, humans are queuing to reach the summit of Mt Everest… Pathetic…”

    “Hey Greta, why did you delete that?”

    Liked by 1 person

  8. wow… just got an email from our bank reassuring us. they are a different structure from the banks that failed–a community based local bank. open for 159 years–lower uninsured deposit base…etc.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. heidi
    March 13, 2023 4:11 pm

    All roads lead to Dimokkkrat money laundering.

    THE SILICON VALLEY BANK COVERUP – AND THE ROADS LEADING TO GOV. GAVIN NEWSOMThe bank just deleted their Twitter account. So much for transparency from a bank that is now 100-percent backed by taxpayers.

    excerpt:
    Silicon Valley Bank’s “Behested” $100,000 Gift To Newsom’s Nonprofit
    Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found that California Governor Gavin Newsom, through a nonprofit organization his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom founded, the California Partners Project, has very close ties to the bank.
    In 2021, SVB gave $100,000 in corporate gifts to the Newsom nonprofit. These gifts are so intertwined with the Newsom’s that they are listed as a matter of California ethics law on a state government website, California Fair Political Practices Commission.
    All nonprofit donors are listed on the state website if they are “behested” gifts. The term “behested” means “at the request, suggestion, or solicitation of, or made in cooperation, consultation, coordination or concert with the public official.”
    In this case, it’s the governor who behested the Silicon Valley Bank $100,000 gift. It’s the governor who requested, suggested, solicitated or cooperated, coordinated or acted in concert to procure the gift. However, the mandatory-state-disclosed conflict-of-interest listing also names his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. That’s because, Mrs. Newsom, is also a public official, the first ever “The First Partner.”
    Siebel Newsom’s public duties including running the Office of First Partner which was created by the governor shortly after inauguration. Since 2019, the governor allocated nine staffers and nearly $5 million in taxpayer funds for his wife’s office… ~

    https://openthebooks.substack.com/p/the-silicon-valley-bank-coverup-and?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=775254&post_id=108212051&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email

    Liked by 1 person

  10. The video has begun at RSB network, he is talking to people in the crowd. He asked about the other possible entrants in the 2024 election and mentioned DeSanctimonious – one woman piped up, “No! Soros money!” They are no dummies!

    Liked by 1 person

  15. “Biden Limits Arctic Oil Drilling Project”
    by David Kelly March 13, 2023

    EXCERPT: “President Biden approved a controversial oil project today in a compromise, multistep decision affecting the Willow Master Development Plan in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). The decision reduced the ConocoPhillips Willow project’s drill pads by 40 percent, while also “protecting” up to 16 million acres of land and sea in the U.S. Arctic Ocean from any future oil and gas leasing.

    Since before Biden took office, he has been at war with the oil and coal industries, seeking to reduce if not end their operations in the United States in deference to clean “green energy” wind and solar resources. Today’s decision supposedly was balanced to provide job opportunities and infrastructure for the nearby communities while protecting wildlife and the region’s unspoiled natural environment. It also helped to avoid a potential lawsuit over federal leases that ConocoPhillips has controlled on the NPR-A since 1999.

    The Willow project covers an area roughly the size of the state of Indiana. AP reported: “The project could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day, according to the company — about 1.5% of total U.S. oil production. The project is the largest proposed oil drilling on U.S. public land and the biggest oil field in Alaska in decades. Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said the development could be “one of the biggest, most important resource development projects in our state’s history.”

    https://thenewamerican.com/biden-limits-arctic-oil-drilling-project/

    Liked by 1 person

  16. so not just a concussion…a fractured rib too…
    entire article
    Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was discharged from the hospital on Monday after suffering a concussion and minor rib fracture last week.

    The Senate minority leader will undergo a period of physical therapy before returning home, according to his spokesman, after he tripped and fell at a Washington, D.C., hotel Wednesday night. The Republican remained in the hospital through the weekend for “observation and treatment” and will now be transferred to an inpatient rehab facility.

    “Over the course of treatment this weekend, the Leader’s medical team discovered that he also suffered a minor rib fracture on Wednesday, for which he is also being treated,” Communications Director David Popp said in a statement. “The Leader and Secretary Chao are deeply thankful for the skilled medical care, prayers, and kindness they have received.”

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate/mcconnell-discharged-from-hospital-after-concussion-to-undergo-physical-therapy-for-rib-fracture

    Liked by 1 person

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  18. Oh, that’s funny….an Amerigas truck kept driving past blowing his air horn and the driver flipping off the crowd – after the 4th time, the police pulled his ass over for impeding traffic!!! ROFL

    Liked by 1 person

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  21. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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