Monarch Butterfly

These pictures were taken on July 17th, 2009 in our back yard. Monarch butterflies are the best known North American butterfly. Every spring they migrate north and in the fall those born in the East return to Mexico and those in the west return to California. One generation does not do the whole trip as their normal lifespan is about two months. Therefore it takes 3 or 4 generations to complete the cycle. Those that make it to the over wintering site go into a life cycle phase called diapause. In this cycle they live for approximately 7 months and will not lay eggs until they leave the over wintering site.