The Simplicity of a Butterfly

I think, at least I hope, we can all remember a time in childhood when a butterfly fluttered by and you stopped your play to watch and follow it.  Their slow, uneven pattern of flight, not seeming in a hurry nor directed, and the way they pause of a petal or a rock and flap their delicate wings up and down.  Impossibly small and delicate, unusually cute for a bug, and often ornately decorated, who can not love a butterfly?

A Monarch Butterfly was also enjoying the Forts at Ferry Reach

They still catch my eye, although it is not often I have my camera on me and an unobstructed view.  This little beauty stopped to pose for a few pictures for me in Ferry Reach and I wanted to share them.

My model posing

The Monarch Butterfly is well known for it's long migration.  We have them in Canada, and the delicate little creatures fly all the way to Mexico to winter.  That's 2500-3500 miles on those tiny little wings in a short period of time...through mountains, valleys, and dodging traffic.  As if it isn't amazing enough that they make it, one has to consider their short life span.  You see, in a single 6 month period, there will be 4 generations of the Monarch butterfly.  The first lay eggs in February and March.  These children will only live 2-6 weeks before laying their own eggs and dying.  Their children, the third generation, share a similar fate, living only 15-50 days as a butterfly before dying.  The fourth generation does something rather remarkable...they live 6 to 8 months, allowing them the time to fly south and preserve the species.  They return in the spring to lay their eggs, but the toll of this journey is their lives.  It is only this 4th generation that makes the journey.  The Bermuda Monarch butterfly is a variant that does not migrate, and breeds all year long.  I hope this little one still gets the 8 month life span.

I think this is a female...isn't she beautiful

Another cool fact about the Monarch butterfly is that they are poisonous to other predatory bugs.  This is because of some cardiotoxins in the milkweed they eat when they are growing up as caterpillars.  The bad news is that farmers hate milkweed, and chemicals that kill milkweed, the subsequent lack of milkweed, deforestation in Mexico, and other factors have led to a serious decline in the Monarch butterfly population.  There are certainly fewer than when I was a child, which is why this was such a treat.  And a reminder to keep the environmental consciousness on high alert...be green, buy green.

Happy Trails little flyer!

I felt child like when she flew away, this tiny creature still being able to strike awe in these eyes as an adult.  This simple but elegant little bug made my giant human day.