The Cycle Continues
"I saw my first monarch today. She was flying around my garden for several hours and laying lots of eggs," wrote Cyndie Glutting from Hull, Massachusetts. Monarchs live for only 2-6 weeks during the breeding season. The tiny scratches on this butterfly's wings show signs of age. This monarch is probably a first-generation butterfly, a child of the monarchs from Mexico. The eggs she lays in Massachusetts will be the grandchildren of the monarchs from Mexico. The cycle will continue all summer. By next fall, the monarchs that migrate may be the great-great-grandchildren of those that left Mexico this spring!

Photo: Cyndie Glutting