Beautiful Monarch Butterflies

How many of you love butterflies? Personally, I love them, especially the colorful ones like the Monarch. Every spring and summer…we sit outside on our deck and look for the ones that visit our yard. During the late spring season…we tend to see a lot of them visiting our bird baths and blooming spring flowers.

During the cold winter season…we like to go to a place called The Butterfly House in northern Pennsylvania and see them there or visit the Butterfly House when they are participating in local events and fairs. Every year when we go to the Pennsylvania Farm Show…we look for the Butterfly House exhibit and make sure we stop in for a visit. The kids love it!

In some areas of the country they refer to the Monarch as the Milkweed, Common Tiger, Wanderer and Black Veined Brown butterfly according to Wikipedia. The Monarch is more prevalent in some areas as compared to others.

You can find these beauties from southern Canada down to northern Central America. Just like all insects…they have six legs and their wing span can reach 3 1/2″ to 4″ in size. They go through 4 complete stages of metamorphosis: eggs, larvae, pupa and adult. What I find very interesting is that both males and females can mate several times during their life span.

Out of all of the North American butterfly species…I think the Monarch butterfly is the prettiest and most interesting one to watch. Do you enjoy watching butterflies? If so, do you have a favorite species?