Monarch Butterflies
Migration Update: May 4, 2007
Please Report
Your Sightings! >>

Today's Report Includes:

Let's Find Monarchs!
Clues in the Milkweed Patch
The Migration: Maps, Questions and Highlights

Distribution Map >>

Real-time Map >>

Map Questions >>

  • Map: Animated Map (Week-by-week slideshow) >>
  • Map: Printer Friendly Version >>
  • Sightings: Recent Sightings (for Classroom Mapping) >>
  • Sightings: All Sightings >>

Highlights: Infrequent — and a Few Far Flung Monarchs

The quiet was typical for the first week of May. New butterflies are on the wing, but not in the numbers we'll see in a week or two. Get ready! Soon there will be as many sightings in one week as we have had all spring.

Also typical for this time of year are the unusual sightings. Single sightings were reported from 45 N in Michigan and -70 W in Massachusetts. What do you make of the pattern? Why would a monarch be sighted in South Dakota before Iowa or Nebraska, for example? List all of the reasons that you can imagine. And what about the monarch sighted in Massachusetts?

  • Monarchs have now been sighted in 24 states, including 3 new ones to add to your Prediction Chart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Journal: How do you explain the monarch in Massachusetts?

It was Mrs. Clare Walker Leslie — a renowned naturalist and author — who saw the monarch in MA on April 26th.

"Please explain to me why I would have seen an adult monarch floating above the water, heading towards the harbor at Woods Hole, MA. WHERE did this monarch come from?" she wondered.

How would you respond to her question? Read Mrs. Leslie's comments, then write your own letter to her in your monarch migration journal.

Teachers >>
Slideshow: Let's Find Monarchs! Clues in the Milkweed Patch

Look closely. Can you find the monarch in the picture to the right? Monarchs leave tell-tale signs on the milkweed they eat. This "leaf damage" gives clues about when and where monarchs have been feeding.

Today's slideshow is a trip to the milkweed patch to find monarchs.

Slideshow >>
Year-end Evaluation: Please Share Your Thoughts! >>

Will you take a few minutes to complete our Year-end Evaluation?

With your help, we can we document Journey North's reach, impact and value.

Thank you! >>

Year-end Evaluation >>
Links: Monarch Butterfly Resources to Explore
  • Slideshow: The Life Cycle of the Monarch Butterfly (English) >>
  • Slideshow: El Ciclo de Vida de la Mariposa Monarca (Spanish) >>
  • Video Clip: What is the Caterpillar Doing...and Why? >>
  • Links and Facts: A Look at the Life of a Monarch Caterpillar >>
  • Predicting: Predicting the Route of the Spring Migration >>
  • Mapping—Key Lessons & Resources: Making, Reading and Interpreting Maps >>
  • Monarchs for Kids (booklets, photos, videos) >>
More Monarch Lessons and Teaching Ideas!

The Next Monarch Migration Update Will Be Posted on May 11, 2007.

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