As the seasons begin to change and colder weather draws closer, people may be starting to see more butterflies in the air around the Big Country.
Monarch butterflies have started their migration down south to Mexico and are currently fluttering around the Big Country.
During the warmer months of spring and summer, Monarch butterflies are found in Canada and east of the Rocky Mountains, but around August, they start their migration journey and head down to southwestern Mexico.
Monarch butterflies make it down in the southern parts of the United States around early October.
McKinley Charleville, who is an Abilene native, has tracked butterflies with her father ever since she was a little girl and she said that the Monarch butterflies will continue to trickle their way through the Big Country until the colder air draws near.
“They’ll just come in with the cold fronts and then they stay here while it’s warm, and when the next cold front blows through, they move on to their next location, further south,” said Charleville.Monarch butterflies lay eggs on local milkweed plants before continuing their migration.Many generations of Monarch butterflies come and go throughout the Big Country and new ones arrive each year.Monarch butterflies live very short lives and most summer butterflies only live three to four weeks, but winter butterflies can live five to eight months, living the whole winter in Mexico.McKinley said that one special thing about the Monarch butterflies is that they instinctively know where to migrate, even with the changing of […]
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