Up, Up and Away How High Do Birds and Butterflies Fly? How high do migrating birds and butterflies fly? Do they fly higher than skyscrapers, mountains, jets and hot air balloons? The list below gives the height of various familiar things. Make a model on a high wall, from earth to sky. Draw everything to scale. (You can practice converting measurements from English to Metric units, too.) English Units Metric Units Altitude of Various Familiar Things ______ ft   Eleven miles high 55,000 ft   Cruising altitude of the Concorde jet ______ ft   Ten miles high ______ ft   Nine miles high ______ ft   Eight miles high ______ ft   Seven miles high 36,000 ft   Cruising altitude of a passenger jet ______ ft   Six miles high 29,028 ft   Highest mountain in the world (Mt. Everest) ______ ft   Five miles high ______ ft   Four miles high 20,032 ft   Highest mountain in North America (Mt. McKinley) 20-40,000 ft   Jet Stream (The river of upper altitude, high speed winds.) ______ ft   Three miles high 11,000 ft   Highest Monarch Butterfly Seen during fall migration by glider pilot (so may fly higher) ______ ft   Two miles high 10,000 ft   Elevation of Monarch Butterfly Sanctuaries in Mexico 10,000 ft   99% of bird migration occurs below this altitude (all species) 10,000 ft   Highest Bald Eagle Bald eagles known to have flown this maximum height ______ ft   One mile high (Reminder: One mile = 5,280 feet) 5-6,000 ft   Highest Thermals Maximum height of thermals in North America (although can range higher in spring and fall) 2-4,000 ft   Songbird Migration Most occurs at these altitudes. Height is evidently limited by ambient air temperature (> -2C), not by low oxygen levels. 2,000 ft   Highest Hot Air Balloon Average maximum altitude of hot air balloon flight 1,483 ft   World?s Tallest Building (Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) 1,454 ft   World?s 2nd tallest building (Sears Tower, Chicago, USA) 500-600 ft   Monarchs disappear from view with binoculars (estimate) 500 ft   Except during migration, most birds fly below this level. 367 ft   The tallest living tree 200 ft   Monarchs disappear from view with the naked eye (estimate) 151 ft   Height of the Statue of Liberty   Copyright 2002 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form