Monarch butterflies are famous for their migration patterns (above: Texas Parks and Wildlife) that take them from central Mexico in winter all the way to the northern U.S. and Canada in summer. Texas lies right in the heart of their migration route, which means we get a lot of monarchs funneling through Houston in the fall as they head back to Mexico. They migrate through Houston in late September and the first half of October. The one in my yard today must have been a 'local' hatchling.
What's really amazing about all this is that the butterflies come to the same trees (above: CBS News) in Mexico every year for the winter, yet they are NOT the same butterfly that left to migrate north the year before. It's that butterfly's great grand child that returns. It is still a mystery has to how an insect four generations later knows exactly where to go.
Want to help the monarch's on their journey? Plant 'milkweed' or 'butterfly weed' in your yard and garden. They will stop and feed as they make their 1500 mile journey, keeping them strong and their fat stores up for the long, long trip.
