Monarch Butterflies

How High Can You See Monarchs as They Fly Overhead?

Our conclusion:

With bare eyes, it would be impossible to see monarchs at any of the altitudes except 500 feet. Even then, the monarchs would probably not be visible without the help of binoculars. If there were a large number of monarchs, you might notice them as tiny dots moving across the sky.

Did you notice?

At 500 feet you can see a car's windows and the blue part of the American flag. Click the image to find them.

Monarchs are so much smaller, they would look like small dots in comparison, if you could see them at all.

Just think: Monarch migration can be invisible!
When people watch migration from the ground, monarchs can travel overhead without being seen. Nobody knows for sure how high monarchs fly during most of their migration because we can't necessarily see them!
Try your own experiment: Monarch migration eye test

Exactly where do monarchs disappear from view? Somewhere between 0 and 500 feet? You can design your own experiment to find out.

This picture shows where we began. What do you think we did?

Cool Observations: Evidence of How High They Can Fly >>


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