In 6th grade I joined the photography club. I would trapse all over my neighborhood, camera in tow, pretending to be a world famous photographer. I would look at a line of trees and pretend as if I were in the arctic circle and this was the rarest type of tree...so rare it was thought to be extinct...that is...until I photographed it. One day, I was trapsing around, as I often did, when I saw some fluttering on the clover flowers in an undeveloped lot. I went over and saw thousands upon thousands of monarchs. I had no idea why they were there or why they were so still. Their little bodies, limp with exhaustion, they sat feeding on the thistles for hours. I danced around the field, weaving an odd pattern with my feet, to avoid crushing the lissless fliers. I took picture after picture, all lost of course, and sat talking with them, holding them, and telling them all my life's stories and ambitions. At the end of the night I bid farewell to my companions and walked the two houses down to my home. I never saw such a sight again. I now know that they were migrating monarchs. It is an extremely rare sighting that I was priveleged to have witnessed. They were on their way down to mexico. They travel thousands of miles and are often quite tired. They will fly very high up and appear to be in clouds of thousands of butterflies. I did not see them in the air, but on the ground. They came to my world and I got a very rare glimpse into theirs.
Monarchs aren't doing well know because of a lack of milkweed plants. They nest, feed, and live on milkweed, the caterpillar, eggs, and butterfly. If you go online, many web sites will give you free milkweed plants if you supply your address. Maybe you too can encourage a monarch flock to pass your way. For more info see: http://www.livemonarch.com/free-milkweed-seeds.htm
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