W ith its brilliant orange wings marked by a black tracery of veins, the monarch butterfly may be the most recognizable butterfly in America. Each year, several generations of monarchs undergo the amazing metamorphosis from egg to adult, reproduce and die. By September, the summer’s final generation begins to feel the call of migration. With the shortening days and falling temperatures, this generation is unable to mature sexually and must migrate south to warmer climates. Monarchs inhabiting the western United States have long been known to overwinter in California, but for many years the winter home of monarchs from the eastern U.S. remained a mystery.

The answer to the migration mystery came in 1976 when a Canadian entomologist pinpointed the long-sought butterfly sanctuaries in El Rosario and Cerro Pelon in the Mexican state of Michoac’an. Year after year, the migrating monarchs follow the path of their ancestors 2,000 miles to the same Mexican mountain ranges, flying as many as 80 miles a day. There, at an elevation of 10,000 feet, they attach themselves to trees and sleep through the winter.

Historically, with the coming of spring, 300 million butterflies leave their mountain refuges in Mexico and fly to milkweed meadows in Texas where they mate, lay eggs and die. Over the following three weeks, their caterpillar progeny feed on the milkweed, form chrysalises and emerge as the next generation of butterflies. With the growing warmth of spring and summer, these descendants advance north in waves and spread out over the eastern U. S. and southern provinces of Canada to repeat the cycle.

Several threats to the monarchs’ habitat have thinned their numbers across the U.S. and Mexico, and continue to mount pressure against the very existence of this fantastic

species. The milkweed plants the monarchs depend on for food in the larval stage, along with the flowering plants that provide nectar for adults, are considered weeds. Across the country, prairie, pasture and meadow habitats are being lost to development, "cleaner" agricultural practices, mowing of roadsides and expanding use of herbicides. Uncontrolled logging in Mexico is destroying overwintering sites, as well. In recent years, adverse weather conditions both in Mexico and the U.S. have reduced monarch populations even further.

The Monarch Butterfly Research Project at Maumee Bay State Park Nature Center has been instituted to improve the monarchs’ prospects. Fortunately for the butterflies, Doris Stifle, a local researcher and world-renowned monarch butterfly expert, volunteers her time and knowledge. With Doris’ help over the past four years, park staff and volunteers have collected monarch eggs and caterpillars and brought them into the nature center to boost their chances of survival. In the wild, only about one in one hundred eggs completes the cycle of metamorphosis and becomes a butterfly. The efforts of the research project have been rewarded with nearly 100% survival.

Due to the mounting threats to monarch survival in recent times, the project was expanded last spring to include a captive breeding program. Newly emerged adults are placed in an outdoor screen tent where they can breed safely before being released, and entire generations of eggs are protected immediately.

By summer’s end, more than 600 monarchs had been born and raised. In early fall, to the delight of many park guests, Doris Stifle tagged and released the final generation, sending them off on their migratory journey on a wing and a prayer.

Plans for the future include expanding the scope of the research and breeding project for the upcoming season and continuing educational programming so that visitors to Maumee Bay State Park may continue to be enlightened by the mystery and beauty of the monarch of the skies.

—Dana Fall, Naturalist, Maumee Bay State Park