9/5/2024: The Incredible Journey of Nature’s Regal Lepidoptera, The Monarch

Whether you watched The Incredible Journey (1963) as a child or viewed it more recently with your children or grandchildren, the story of three pets who traveled 300 miles to return home is inspiring. But their adventure pales in comparison to the annual migratory trek of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). In late summer and fall, the monarch follows an up to 3,000-mile migration path to overwintering locations in Mexico, winging as much as 100 miles a day when conditions are right. While the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) changed the listing of the migratory monarch from endangered to vulnerable in December 2023, it is still imperative that we support these beautiful creatures in their survival story.

These vital pollinators carry significant cultural importance in addition to ecological. They overwinter in Mexico November through March, so their arrival lands on Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead)—a celebration of passed-on loved ones. Monarchs symbolize the visitation of ancestral souls, bridging the divide between living and dead.

To learn more about monarchs and butterflies in general and what we can do to help them, we reached out to naturalist and Preserve instructor Mary Ann Borge, whose interest in wildflowers and birding led to a fascination with insects. “Once I began to understand the interdependencies between native plants and animals, including people, I was hooked,” she explains. “Without the native plants they rely on, most species would cease to exist.”

An Amazing Strategy for Survival

“Butterflies amaze me,” says Borge. “Each species has evolved a strategy for survival. Eluding predators, finding food and shelter and especially surviving winter are key elements of survival success.”

“Like most butterflies, monarchs ‘specialize’ on the food their caterpillars eat, and without that special food, the species cannot survive. Milkweeds (Asclepias spp.), which contain toxins that deter herbivores from eating them, are the monarch caterpillar’s required food. Monarchs sequester those toxins in their bodies, which protect them from predators throughout their life cycle,” she continues, “and to survive winter, monarchs fly to Mexico—an amazing feat for such a small creature.”

How to Be a Friend to Butterflies (And Birds and Other Insects, Too)

In the past 50 years, insect populations have decreased as much as 75% in some areas, and birds, who rely on insects as an essential source of food, have declined by almost 30%. How can we help? “Often doing less will help the most, and save you time and money,” says Borge, whose recommendations also include:

• Use native plants. Most insects depend on them, and wildlife like birds rely on both the plants and insects. Have a broad variety of native plants in your garden so that you have something in bloom from early spring through late fall. Replace as much of your lawn as you can with native plants, too. Where you do have lawn, let native plants like violets creep in.  And, of course, do not use pesticides or herbicides.
• Leave fallen leaves and spent perennials in your flower beds. Not only do they make the best mulch but they also provide shelter for many insects and food for birds.
• Include plants that are caterpillar food in your garden and on your property. There are quite a few butterflies that rely on specific trees as caterpillar food. These include oaks (Quercus spp.), wild black cherry (Prunus serotina), hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) and tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera).

Learn More with These Resources

“The Preserve’s Knowing Native Plants series of classes is the best resource in the area to learn about native plants and their relationship to butterflies, bees, birds and other inhabitants of our ecosystem,” says Borge. She also recommends Butterflies of the East Coast by Rick Cech and Guy Tudor; Monarchs and Milkweed by Anurag Agrawal; and Butterfly Gardener, the quarterly members magazine of the North American Butterfly Association, which sponsors the annual butterfly count each July—an event the Preserve has participated in since 2012. Borge is the publication’s only editor.

Additional resources include Borge’s blog, The Natural Web, and Lambertville Goes Wild, which Borge and other volunteers established in 2017 to promote good gardening choices. Lambertville Goes Wild led the City of Lamberville to certification through the National Wildlife Federation as a community wildlife habitat in 2019.