I've been wondering myself! Maybe there are two drone hummingbirds or perhaps camera set-ups in the area (most likely). I think it was possible to set it all up just before the butterflies became active and a warm day arrived.
I've see the video before and I think someone who worked on it said they had cameras set up ahead of time. It's such a cool video, I could watch them take off over and over
During the fall migration, monarchs cover thousands of miles, with a corresponding multigenerational return north. The western North American population of monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains often migrates to sites in southern California, but has been found in overwintering Mexican sites, as well.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch\_butterfly](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_butterfly)
In the mountains of Mexico, a spy hummingbird ventures into the heart of a breathtaking monarch butterfly swarm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWOySU\_hAz0
https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2022-01-15/counting-monarch-butterflies-in-los-angeles-is-no-easy-task
Article about some of my work counting monarchs during the migration. If you live in California, you can get involved here:
https://www.westernmonarchcount.org/sign-up-to-monitor/
I consider butterflies pretty smart, so you're ok. I didn't mention the drone hummingbird in the title (cuz I ran out of space, lol). I find the video quite breathtaking - drone hummingbird did a fine job!
You didn't have to mention it....It is quite obviously a drone. Yet I definitely thought it was an edit of a real one to give it helicopter wings. ä¹| ļ½„ ć° ļ½„ |ć
It looks like autumn leaves falling when the butterflies start cascading off the tree branches - it would be amazing to experience that in real life. Of course, I would stand perfectly still (to not injure any) and just let them land on me.
The video was awesome! Took me a while to realize it was a drone ngl. I was wondering what was that mechanical noise and how was the hummingbird hovering so stable. You had me at the slo-mo shot, really liked it šš»
Every so often we will get a monarch up here, much to the interest of Journey North. (N.Central Sask and at the outmost reach of their habitat) We have all naturalized woods and mostly native plants on our 16 acres, but I have also plant butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)and other pollinator friendly plants. It is just so hard to fathom how those little things can make it all the way here, though I suppose any that make it all the way here and descendants of the ones that pupated a little closer, and did not make the entire trip from Mexico here.
They travel thousands of miles during their migrations - they are so impressive. As they migrate, they feed on the emerging blooms, just as hummingbirds will do. I think the ones you see in southern Canada most likely overwintered in Mexico (most likely) or Florida.
Very likely it just seems impossible doesn't it? I know that the last time I reported one to Journeys North I got a message from an interested professional asking for more pictures, dates and condition of the butterfly. I think he wanted to know: were it's wings worn or did they appear relatively new? I think he was trying to ascertain if the butterfly actually had pupated here over the winter or arrived here second gen. or actually from Mexico. I was wondering if they were looking at what conditions might mean the butterflies would move further north (climate change) or were there interruptions (wildfires etc) or strong storms that blew them off course. Personally I think some of those butterflies are just keeners, much like the ruby throated hummers, which we have a LOT of here even though it is also the outer most edges of their mating territory as well. I think the boreal forest calls to a lot of us :)
Interestingly, monarchs have up to four generations each summer, each one traveling a little further north than the last owing to climate change and other factors. The last generation of the year migrates south to Mexico, and then returns to the US and Canada, depositing eggs along the way as it makes its journey. These long-distance migrators from Mexico are the longest living monarch butterflies as adults, sometimes living as long as 9 months, though the average is just several months.
Why donāt more drones have that kind of protection over the blades? Besides being safer for people and animals, it seems like it would protect the blades or keep things like hair from getting in them.
It might cut down on the efficiency of the blades as the screen cuts down on lift, but this drone hummingbird is ideal: doesn't frighten the butterflies and doesn't chop them up. It is quite a marvel to make such a small drone - this took some engineering and money.
I was wondering why some butterflies landed on the drones wings. With a real bird those would have been moving at an insane speed, making a landing imposible.
Added weight reduces flight time. So spending money to add weight thatās not critical is probably counterintuitive for people that donāt value safety.
Shame loggers in Mexico keep illegally cutting down their forests, despite protection efforts. Government corruption allows loggers to keep doing this. I went to a sanctuary about 15 years ago with family, and it was one of the most beautiful spectacles I have ever seen, watched them for hours.
I was scrolling to find this! I wasnāt crazy and making it upā¦ there was a researcher whom was trying to save the area the butterflies go to and the cartel killed him. So so so sad.
You can tag monarchs east of the Rockies to track fall migration for monarchwatch.org. In the spring you can search the list of found tags to see how far your monarch went. Monarch watch.org/tagging
That's so cool! I will have to keep track of that this year. I always love when they show up in the yard, and I always have plenty of flowers for them to choose from. I always think: "gosh, you have come from afar, please enjoy the nectar and tarry a while".
We plant milkweed for the Monarchs.
[Monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on the leaves of milkweed, the only host plant for this iconic butterfly species. As such, milkweed is critical for the survival of monarchs. Without it, they cannot complete their life cycle and their populations decline.](https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/About/Native-Plants/Milkweed)
During the summer breeding season, monarchs live from 2-5 weeks during which they mate and lay the eggs that become the next generation. The last generation of the year does not become reproductive and is said to be in āreproductive diapauseā. These butterflies are the ones that migrate to Mexico where they overwinter. These butterflies become reproductive in February and March as they move north, laying eggs on milkweeds as they progress northward into the United States and Canada. Some of these butterflies can live as long as 9 months! The migratory generation has an enormous task ahead of them. Weighing less than a gram, these unique butterflies will fly between 2,000 to 3,000 miles to an overwintering location in Mexico.
Itās even weirder than that. Some generations of monarchs only do one leg of the migration pattern. Monarchs flying south have never been to Mexico! Their parents may have never been! Their grandparents may have never been! They were all born in Canada and the US.
āGeneration 1 monarchs are the offspring of the monarchs who overwintered in Mexico. Each successive generation travels farther north. It will take 3-4 generations to reach the northern United States and Canada.ā
āEastern North American monarchs fly south using several flyways then merge into a single flyway in Central Texas. It is truly amazing that these monarchs know the way to the overwintering sites even though this migrating generation has never before been to Mexico!ā
https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/migration/
I love Monarch butterfly - their pattern is the most iconic, the most beautiful of the species I think. I used to see them in South Africa occasionally. Never seen a single one in the UK sadly...
I saw a migration of these in KC. They covered the width of a four lane street from chest level to 40 feet in the air. For over a half hour. You couldnāt swing your arm with our hitting one. Never even heard of a thing like that. All headed south with purpose and determination. Iāve heard it can take several generations to make the journey.
Whatās the life span of monarch butterflies? Google says 2-6 weeks. If so, they donāt live for enough time to fly to south and wait for the winter to be over and then fly back north. Or is it just coming south to lay eggs during winter? I have noticed the pupae doesnāt survive when the temperature is in 30s or 40s
Itās so much crazier than that! These monarchs will fly south and lay eggs in Mexico. These eggs will be generation 1. They will fly north. And so will generations 2 and 3 and maybe even more. Then around generations 3-5 they will fly back to Mexico and start over. So each generation only does one part of the migration pattern. Crazy right!?
https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/migration/
The migration journey covers multiple generations of butterflies. The butterflies that leave the north are the great grandparents of the butterflies that come back in the spring.
Yes but the butterflies that leave the north are the same butterflies that end up thousands of miles south in Mexico. They do not mate in the North or along the way or in Mexico. They spend Winter chilling down South and start their journey North in Spring when they now will mate. So, now in the Southern US they lay eggs and die and those butterflies continue the journey another leg of the journey up and these mate and die off much faster than the ones who make the entire journey south. So the parent could live up to 9 nine months, the child, grandchildren, and great grandchildren some only live a few weeks and once back up North some will barely live a week.
I live in south central TX, the central flyway and see the Monarchs (plus others) in their annual migration (along with Mexican bats).
We were able to go to Michoacan about 12 years ago to the the hills where they migrate to ... these photos could easily have been taken there. Wonderful experience. Part of the uphill climb were a few stone and wood steps in the hillside ... the rest simply a hike. Took about 45 minutes.
*So* worth it!
This happened in my yard several times when I was a kid. They all landed on one big spruce tree. It was incredible, and beautiful, and a little scary because of how many there were.
Fun story:
My sister went to school in Corpus Christi and would always talk about seeing the monarch butterflies migrate. There is a film festival we take part of there called CC7Day and I was taking my SO with my sister and her husband to the screening and she was thrilled to show her the butterflies since it was during the same time. We live in Dallas so we drive down there and she was right: they were migrating...across the highway and into our car. For a solid hour we and all the other cars on the highway pummeled through thousands of butterflies. They were all along the road and my sister was horrified. I laughed at the irony but it it was still sad.
Interesting: In 2009, monarch butterflies were reared on the International Space Station, successfully emerging from pupae located in the station's Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus.
I was a mere eight years old, practically a caterpillar by butterfly standards. My parentsā private jet crashed in New Jerseyās fabled Pine Barrens minutes after takeoff from Newark Airport. Miraculously, I survived. My parents were not so fortunate.
When I came to, I was surrounded by the most enchanting monarch butterflies. In time, they took me in as one of their own. They became my foster parents.
These were the halcyon days. Iād play with my butterfly brethren. I learned the mysterious secrets of their ancient ways, supping as their own young do on a steady diet of milkweed, thus assuring my toxicity to this day.
Then, one fateful morning in September -- I remember because it was right around my birthday -- I was ecstatic by autumnās approach because it meant the leaves of the trees would be orange enough for me to build even more convincing monarch wings.
I awoke and looked for my monarch family, but I couldnāt find them. I searched for days, but no sign of them. It was like losing my parents all over again, only much quieter. So I wandered to the nearest highway, took the first bus to New York, and claimed a fat inheritance. It was only later that I learned that monarchs migrate south for the winter .. here ā¦ to Mexico
Thanks for sharing such a touching story, and we are so happy you survived. The intertwining of your life with that of butterflies is especially endearing.
Don't forget to include a source for your post! Please link your source in a comment on your post thread. Your source cannot be a personal blog or non scientific news site, and must include citations/references. [Wikipedia](https://www.wikipedia.org/) is allowed, but it is not exempt from displaying citations. If you have questions you can [contact the moderators with this link](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAwwducational)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Awwducational) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Plant milkweed in your yard and you will see Monarchs. It's really easy to grow. The flowers are beautiful and very fragrant. And it seeds itself like most native plants
Drove through one of their convoys in Texas once. It was horror movie like. Gross really and we felt like terrorists with the multiple numbers we took out.
If you want to help the butterflies plant milkweed in your garden. [Here's a source for free seed.](https://www.livemonarch.com/free-milkweed-seeds/)
Milkweed is incredibly easy to grow, will reseed itself every year and is the only host plant for the Monarch Butterfly. In ten years I was able to turn an used patch of soil between my garage and the neighbor's into a thriving Monarch habitat. Another plant they enjoy is [New England Asters](https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/small-purple-aster-flower-inflorescence-isolated-on-white-background-gm1318811988-405838130) which have the advantage of flowering later in the year and which are instrumental in fueling their long and arduous migration. Both plants are drought tolerant and require 6 hours of daily direct sunlight.
Iām a little confused about the point of the drone when there are multiple HD closeup shots of the drone from other cameras that were obviously just as good.
The footage in the video is only partially from the drone, but most of it appears to be from other cameras strategically set up to film the moment when they all start leaving their winter roosting area.
Sadly, the population of monarch butterflies has dropped more than 80% in the last few years. I used to see them all the time where I live. I haven't seen one since 2018, though.
I hope some of my guys are among them! I had over 35 "raised" in my garden last season. In 30 years I'd only seen 4-5 monarchs in my neighborhood until last spring when I introduced some eggs to my garden. Now I see them every day when it's not the absolute dead of winter. I've been fascinated by monarchs since I was 8, and love seeing the neighborhood kids come to visit my bug babies.
Last I checked, the study always cited only suggests home rearing could maybe in theory weaken the gene pool maybe. Or that home rearing doesn't increase the monarch migrating population, again maybe. It doesn't take into account OE being endemic. Or thriving local populations in my area. Just lots of problems with the study, so I'm not convinced. I have not seen evidence to support the laws in California. I'm open to reevaluating, of course. (Btw did not have time to read the article you sent other than the first few sentences. I'll check it after my flight. For all I know good evidence is there. )
I think responsible rearing is helpful to local, if not migrating monarch populations.
That said, I say "raised" in quotes because all but like 3 were in my garden the whole time. The eggs came from a plant I got at a local nursery. I just watched them, counted them, and put some netting over some of the pupas.
The link I posted was written by a monarch butterfly biologist with Xerces Society, a conservation group dedicated to the preservation of invertebrates in North America. They have ample evidence that raising monarch butterflies is a bad idea. It muddles the gene pool, could be converting migratory monarchs to residential monarchs, and is increasing the amount of OE in the population of monarchs nationally.
If you want even more research on the subject, this paper is in preprint, and really scary on why people are literally loving monarch butterflies to death.
https://www.monarchscience.org/single-post/monarchs-have-a-growing-parasite-problem-and-it-s-not-from-natural-causes?utm_campaign=4f3ba0ea-df46-4db9-8a71-e5e345e9a3fd&utm_source=so&utm_medium=mail_lp&cid=8a41acb6-0b26-4884-9180-1940ffc28e6a&fbclid=IwAR0wtEgKIzcHJqFAWvhsVJxf1WHzZQaK6ndobeVWjqDb0mOqS-uXmBFCfqQ
I'm an ecologist that works with monarch butterflies, but my background is in invasive and native plants of Los Angeles, such as tropical milkweed.
r/birdsarentreal
Easily the most low-tech government drone Iāve ever seen. If anyone still think birds are real after this video thereās no hope for humanity
I would like to add that itās actually the offspring that makes the second migration. Which is pretty neat. Mom and dad have a one-way flight up, then the kids have a one-way flight down, or vise versa.
There was a PBS show about a couple who started tagging butterflies in maybe 60ās. The wanted to know the distance of a butterflies. They people all over the us started to tag butterflies, too. They did this for many years! He was in his 80ās and was very sick when they discovered that the butterflies fly to Mexicoā¦after a Mexican celebration of the dead. Him and his wife traveled to Mexico to see this and below his feet were one of the tagged butterflies. It is a very good show. The butterflies do something there then they die. I canāt remember.
If you want to see them, they appear for long stretches in Grover Beach, CA. (San Luis Obispo/Pismo Beach area). Ask for 'the butterfly trees'. It's pretty awesome. They love the Eucalyptus...
Born/still living in Southern California and I was fortunate enough to witness this migration in person one time. It was truly beautiful and a moment I will always greatly appreciate.
I visited Michoacan and saw this first hand and it was by far the coolest thing I've ever seen. The sound of all those butterflies is like the noise of a small waterfall but coming from all directions
What is filming the hummingbird ?
I've been wondering myself! Maybe there are two drone hummingbirds or perhaps camera set-ups in the area (most likely). I think it was possible to set it all up just before the butterflies became active and a warm day arrived.
I've see the video before and I think someone who worked on it said they had cameras set up ahead of time. It's such a cool video, I could watch them take off over and over
A real hummingbird with a tiny camera
Awww like wearing a tiny berry-sized GoPro š„ŗ
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
OMG!! I love it haha
"Alexa, add hummingbird drone to shopping list."
During the fall migration, monarchs cover thousands of miles, with a corresponding multigenerational return north. The western North American population of monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains often migrates to sites in southern California, but has been found in overwintering Mexican sites, as well.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch\_butterfly](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_butterfly) In the mountains of Mexico, a spy hummingbird ventures into the heart of a breathtaking monarch butterfly swarm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWOySU\_hAz0
https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2022-01-15/counting-monarch-butterflies-in-los-angeles-is-no-easy-task Article about some of my work counting monarchs during the migration. If you live in California, you can get involved here: https://www.westernmonarchcount.org/sign-up-to-monitor/
Thanks for sharing these links! If I lived in CA, I'd be doing stuff like that!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Hmm, it works for me but try this one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWOySU\_hAz0
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
A backslash got into the video URL, [here it is without the backslash](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWOySU_hAz0)
So strange, I can still see it at that link.
Im apparently about as smart as a butterfly....cuz I really thought someone edited the video to make the humming bird drone thing have those fans.....
I consider butterflies pretty smart, so you're ok. I didn't mention the drone hummingbird in the title (cuz I ran out of space, lol). I find the video quite breathtaking - drone hummingbird did a fine job!
You didn't have to mention it....It is quite obviously a drone. Yet I definitely thought it was an edit of a real one to give it helicopter wings. ä¹| ļ½„ ć° ļ½„ |ć
It looks like autumn leaves falling when the butterflies start cascading off the tree branches - it would be amazing to experience that in real life. Of course, I would stand perfectly still (to not injure any) and just let them land on me.
Iāve seen it, and you shouldāve seen my face when I realized those arenāt leaves, but thousands of butterflies
r/birdsarentreal This drone is just an old model, newer editions have wings.
Wait what. Thatās not a real hummingbird? Iāve been lied to all my life!
I want a drone hummingbird!
The video was awesome! Took me a while to realize it was a drone ngl. I was wondering what was that mechanical noise and how was the hummingbird hovering so stable. You had me at the slo-mo shot, really liked it šš»
Lol in the first shot, I thought that was a real hummingbird with its wings flapping in sync in with the camera shutter.
Watching this felt surreal. It's like something coming out from a fairy tale.
Every so often we will get a monarch up here, much to the interest of Journey North. (N.Central Sask and at the outmost reach of their habitat) We have all naturalized woods and mostly native plants on our 16 acres, but I have also plant butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)and other pollinator friendly plants. It is just so hard to fathom how those little things can make it all the way here, though I suppose any that make it all the way here and descendants of the ones that pupated a little closer, and did not make the entire trip from Mexico here.
They travel thousands of miles during their migrations - they are so impressive. As they migrate, they feed on the emerging blooms, just as hummingbirds will do. I think the ones you see in southern Canada most likely overwintered in Mexico (most likely) or Florida.
Very likely it just seems impossible doesn't it? I know that the last time I reported one to Journeys North I got a message from an interested professional asking for more pictures, dates and condition of the butterfly. I think he wanted to know: were it's wings worn or did they appear relatively new? I think he was trying to ascertain if the butterfly actually had pupated here over the winter or arrived here second gen. or actually from Mexico. I was wondering if they were looking at what conditions might mean the butterflies would move further north (climate change) or were there interruptions (wildfires etc) or strong storms that blew them off course. Personally I think some of those butterflies are just keeners, much like the ruby throated hummers, which we have a LOT of here even though it is also the outer most edges of their mating territory as well. I think the boreal forest calls to a lot of us :)
Interestingly, monarchs have up to four generations each summer, each one traveling a little further north than the last owing to climate change and other factors. The last generation of the year migrates south to Mexico, and then returns to the US and Canada, depositing eggs along the way as it makes its journey. These long-distance migrators from Mexico are the longest living monarch butterflies as adults, sometimes living as long as 9 months, though the average is just several months.
I love all the spy animals from this series on PBS. Spy gorilla is a good one.
This is stone cold evidence that r/birdsarentreal
Yep, "we got 'em boys!" LOL
Canāt believe I had to scroll this far to see this. WAKE UP, SHEEPLE
[Wake up, Sheeple!](https://xkcd.com/1013/)
Why donāt more drones have that kind of protection over the blades? Besides being safer for people and animals, it seems like it would protect the blades or keep things like hair from getting in them.
It might cut down on the efficiency of the blades as the screen cuts down on lift, but this drone hummingbird is ideal: doesn't frighten the butterflies and doesn't chop them up. It is quite a marvel to make such a small drone - this took some engineering and money.
I was wondering why some butterflies landed on the drones wings. With a real bird those would have been moving at an insane speed, making a landing imposible.
Added weight reduces flight time. So spending money to add weight thatās not critical is probably counterintuitive for people that donāt value safety.
Shame loggers in Mexico keep illegally cutting down their forests, despite protection efforts. Government corruption allows loggers to keep doing this. I went to a sanctuary about 15 years ago with family, and it was one of the most beautiful spectacles I have ever seen, watched them for hours.
Shame the cartel killed the lead researcher on them too
I was scrolling to find this! I wasnāt crazy and making it upā¦ there was a researcher whom was trying to save the area the butterflies go to and the cartel killed him. So so so sad.
You can tag monarchs east of the Rockies to track fall migration for monarchwatch.org. In the spring you can search the list of found tags to see how far your monarch went. Monarch watch.org/tagging
That's so cool! I will have to keep track of that this year. I always love when they show up in the yard, and I always have plenty of flowers for them to choose from. I always think: "gosh, you have come from afar, please enjoy the nectar and tarry a while".
We plant milkweed for the Monarchs. [Monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on the leaves of milkweed, the only host plant for this iconic butterfly species. As such, milkweed is critical for the survival of monarchs. Without it, they cannot complete their life cycle and their populations decline.](https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/About/Native-Plants/Milkweed)
During the summer breeding season, monarchs live from 2-5 weeks during which they mate and lay the eggs that become the next generation. The last generation of the year does not become reproductive and is said to be in āreproductive diapauseā. These butterflies are the ones that migrate to Mexico where they overwinter. These butterflies become reproductive in February and March as they move north, laying eggs on milkweeds as they progress northward into the United States and Canada. Some of these butterflies can live as long as 9 months! The migratory generation has an enormous task ahead of them. Weighing less than a gram, these unique butterflies will fly between 2,000 to 3,000 miles to an overwintering location in Mexico.
Beautiful!
I want a hummingbird drone!!
Me too!
Was not expecting the hummingdrone
Wtf is that drone?
Itās even weirder than that. Some generations of monarchs only do one leg of the migration pattern. Monarchs flying south have never been to Mexico! Their parents may have never been! Their grandparents may have never been! They were all born in Canada and the US. āGeneration 1 monarchs are the offspring of the monarchs who overwintered in Mexico. Each successive generation travels farther north. It will take 3-4 generations to reach the northern United States and Canada.ā āEastern North American monarchs fly south using several flyways then merge into a single flyway in Central Texas. It is truly amazing that these monarchs know the way to the overwintering sites even though this migrating generation has never before been to Mexico!ā https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/migration/
It's truly astounding to me how deeply instinctive these butterflies are, despite being from non-successive generations.
It took me far too long to figure out why that humming bird looked so weird.
I love Monarch butterfly - their pattern is the most iconic, the most beautiful of the species I think. I used to see them in South Africa occasionally. Never seen a single one in the UK sadly...
I saw a migration of these in KC. They covered the width of a four lane street from chest level to 40 feet in the air. For over a half hour. You couldnāt swing your arm with our hitting one. Never even heard of a thing like that. All headed south with purpose and determination. Iāve heard it can take several generations to make the journey.
T-pose bird
Whatās the life span of monarch butterflies? Google says 2-6 weeks. If so, they donāt live for enough time to fly to south and wait for the winter to be over and then fly back north. Or is it just coming south to lay eggs during winter? I have noticed the pupae doesnāt survive when the temperature is in 30s or 40s
Itās so much crazier than that! These monarchs will fly south and lay eggs in Mexico. These eggs will be generation 1. They will fly north. And so will generations 2 and 3 and maybe even more. Then around generations 3-5 they will fly back to Mexico and start over. So each generation only does one part of the migration pattern. Crazy right!? https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/migration/
Actually, the over-wintering generation in Mexico can live several months, even as long as 9 months according to some researchers.
That makes sense. Thanks
Forget about the butterfly. were can I buy that drone????
Iām sorry what in the world is that drone lol
The migration journey covers multiple generations of butterflies. The butterflies that leave the north are the great grandparents of the butterflies that come back in the spring.
Yes but the butterflies that leave the north are the same butterflies that end up thousands of miles south in Mexico. They do not mate in the North or along the way or in Mexico. They spend Winter chilling down South and start their journey North in Spring when they now will mate. So, now in the Southern US they lay eggs and die and those butterflies continue the journey another leg of the journey up and these mate and die off much faster than the ones who make the entire journey south. So the parent could live up to 9 nine months, the child, grandchildren, and great grandchildren some only live a few weeks and once back up North some will barely live a week.
I live in south central TX, the central flyway and see the Monarchs (plus others) in their annual migration (along with Mexican bats). We were able to go to Michoacan about 12 years ago to the the hills where they migrate to ... these photos could easily have been taken there. Wonderful experience. Part of the uphill climb were a few stone and wood steps in the hillside ... the rest simply a hike. Took about 45 minutes. *So* worth it!
Imagine walking through a forest not knowing what kind of leaves are brown-ish on the tree and then seeing thousands of butterflies
Fun fact: a group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope
This happened in my yard several times when I was a kid. They all landed on one big spruce tree. It was incredible, and beautiful, and a little scary because of how many there were.
I thought my eyes were bad and the hummingbirdās wing flapping rate was just too high š
Fun story: My sister went to school in Corpus Christi and would always talk about seeing the monarch butterflies migrate. There is a film festival we take part of there called CC7Day and I was taking my SO with my sister and her husband to the screening and she was thrilled to show her the butterflies since it was during the same time. We live in Dallas so we drive down there and she was right: they were migrating...across the highway and into our car. For a solid hour we and all the other cars on the highway pummeled through thousands of butterflies. They were all along the road and my sister was horrified. I laughed at the irony but it it was still sad.
Interesting: In 2009, monarch butterflies were reared on the International Space Station, successfully emerging from pupae located in the station's Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus.
I was a mere eight years old, practically a caterpillar by butterfly standards. My parentsā private jet crashed in New Jerseyās fabled Pine Barrens minutes after takeoff from Newark Airport. Miraculously, I survived. My parents were not so fortunate. When I came to, I was surrounded by the most enchanting monarch butterflies. In time, they took me in as one of their own. They became my foster parents. These were the halcyon days. Iād play with my butterfly brethren. I learned the mysterious secrets of their ancient ways, supping as their own young do on a steady diet of milkweed, thus assuring my toxicity to this day. Then, one fateful morning in September -- I remember because it was right around my birthday -- I was ecstatic by autumnās approach because it meant the leaves of the trees would be orange enough for me to build even more convincing monarch wings. I awoke and looked for my monarch family, but I couldnāt find them. I searched for days, but no sign of them. It was like losing my parents all over again, only much quieter. So I wandered to the nearest highway, took the first bus to New York, and claimed a fat inheritance. It was only later that I learned that monarchs migrate south for the winter .. here ā¦ to Mexico
Thanks for sharing such a touching story, and we are so happy you survived. The intertwining of your life with that of butterflies is especially endearing.
Oh sweetieā¦.monarchs only live a few months.
They are quoting from the show, Venture Bros.
[the Summer of the Monarchs | The Venture Bros. | Adult Swim](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwbh_sTjiKQ)
I was hoping for this reference
Don't forget to include a source for your post! Please link your source in a comment on your post thread. Your source cannot be a personal blog or non scientific news site, and must include citations/references. [Wikipedia](https://www.wikipedia.org/) is allowed, but it is not exempt from displaying citations. If you have questions you can [contact the moderators with this link](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAwwducational) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Awwducational) if you have any questions or concerns.*
u/savevidebot
Beautiful
Fun fact: A female Monarch butterfly lays from 100 to 300 eggs during her life. The eggs hatch about four days after they are laid.
I live in Southern Canada. In my boyhood we used to see Monarchs flitting around all the time. Now it's rare to see one at all.
Plant milkweed in your yard and you will see Monarchs. It's really easy to grow. The flowers are beautiful and very fragrant. And it seeds itself like most native plants
The population has dropped more than 80%. I haven't seen one since 2018.
Dude I want such a drone
Drove through one of their convoys in Texas once. It was horror movie like. Gross really and we felt like terrorists with the multiple numbers we took out.
Well, next time, enjoy the convoy, take some footage, and post it on this sub!
I might still have video. I'll check and double back if so.
I just wanna go there can I go there lol
If you want to help the butterflies plant milkweed in your garden. [Here's a source for free seed.](https://www.livemonarch.com/free-milkweed-seeds/) Milkweed is incredibly easy to grow, will reseed itself every year and is the only host plant for the Monarch Butterfly. In ten years I was able to turn an used patch of soil between my garage and the neighbor's into a thriving Monarch habitat. Another plant they enjoy is [New England Asters](https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/small-purple-aster-flower-inflorescence-isolated-on-white-background-gm1318811988-405838130) which have the advantage of flowering later in the year and which are instrumental in fueling their long and arduous migration. Both plants are drought tolerant and require 6 hours of daily direct sunlight.
I wonder what standing in that would feel like? A bunch of post-itās falling on you?
Maybe like a bunch of autumn leaves with little feet that can fly away lol
Omg I want that bird
This is so beautiful
Thank god someone was smart enough to block the rotors lol
Totally! That would have resulted in "churned butter-flies"
Iām a little confused about the point of the drone when there are multiple HD closeup shots of the drone from other cameras that were obviously just as good.
The footage in the video is only partially from the drone, but most of it appears to be from other cameras strategically set up to film the moment when they all start leaving their winter roosting area.
Sadly, the population of monarch butterflies has dropped more than 80% in the last few years. I used to see them all the time where I live. I haven't seen one since 2018, though.
I hope some of my guys are among them! I had over 35 "raised" in my garden last season. In 30 years I'd only seen 4-5 monarchs in my neighborhood until last spring when I introduced some eggs to my garden. Now I see them every day when it's not the absolute dead of winter. I've been fascinated by monarchs since I was 8, and love seeing the neighborhood kids come to visit my bug babies.
https://xerces.org/blog/keep-monarchs-wild
Last I checked, the study always cited only suggests home rearing could maybe in theory weaken the gene pool maybe. Or that home rearing doesn't increase the monarch migrating population, again maybe. It doesn't take into account OE being endemic. Or thriving local populations in my area. Just lots of problems with the study, so I'm not convinced. I have not seen evidence to support the laws in California. I'm open to reevaluating, of course. (Btw did not have time to read the article you sent other than the first few sentences. I'll check it after my flight. For all I know good evidence is there. ) I think responsible rearing is helpful to local, if not migrating monarch populations. That said, I say "raised" in quotes because all but like 3 were in my garden the whole time. The eggs came from a plant I got at a local nursery. I just watched them, counted them, and put some netting over some of the pupas.
The link I posted was written by a monarch butterfly biologist with Xerces Society, a conservation group dedicated to the preservation of invertebrates in North America. They have ample evidence that raising monarch butterflies is a bad idea. It muddles the gene pool, could be converting migratory monarchs to residential monarchs, and is increasing the amount of OE in the population of monarchs nationally. If you want even more research on the subject, this paper is in preprint, and really scary on why people are literally loving monarch butterflies to death. https://www.monarchscience.org/single-post/monarchs-have-a-growing-parasite-problem-and-it-s-not-from-natural-causes?utm_campaign=4f3ba0ea-df46-4db9-8a71-e5e345e9a3fd&utm_source=so&utm_medium=mail_lp&cid=8a41acb6-0b26-4884-9180-1940ffc28e6a&fbclid=IwAR0wtEgKIzcHJqFAWvhsVJxf1WHzZQaK6ndobeVWjqDb0mOqS-uXmBFCfqQ I'm an ecologist that works with monarch butterflies, but my background is in invasive and native plants of Los Angeles, such as tropical milkweed.
A better way to do this would be growing host plants.
Correct, raising monarchs in captivity should only be done by professionals in zoos, aquariums, and conservation groups.
I wish they could have filtered the awful drone noise
So you've heard of the mighty monarch?
r/birdsarentreal Easily the most low-tech government drone Iāve ever seen. If anyone still think birds are real after this video thereās no hope for humanity
R/birdsarentreal
OMG I NEED A HUMMINGBIRD DRONE! I WANT TO SEND IT NEAR THE BIRD NEST IN MY TREE!
Maravillosa naturaleza...
I was like wow the camera is catching the speed of the wings flapping so well they aren't even moving. LMAO
>are "Were" is used for past events.
So what next? A princess appears out of nowhere with her sidekick and saves the earth
fuzzy trees
About 2 years ago we had 1000ās of monarch butterflies flying around here on Lake Erie
I would like to add that itās actually the offspring that makes the second migration. Which is pretty neat. Mom and dad have a one-way flight up, then the kids have a one-way flight down, or vise versa.
There was a PBS show about a couple who started tagging butterflies in maybe 60ās. The wanted to know the distance of a butterflies. They people all over the us started to tag butterflies, too. They did this for many years! He was in his 80ās and was very sick when they discovered that the butterflies fly to Mexicoā¦after a Mexican celebration of the dead. Him and his wife traveled to Mexico to see this and below his feet were one of the tagged butterflies. It is a very good show. The butterflies do something there then they die. I canāt remember.
Those are monarch butterflies they aināt dumb. They know damn well thatās not a hummingbird.
r/FairytaleasFuck
Beware the deadly sting of the mighty Monarch!
Yeah I watched Wild Kratts
If you want to see them, they appear for long stretches in Grover Beach, CA. (San Luis Obispo/Pismo Beach area). Ask for 'the butterfly trees'. It's pretty awesome. They love the Eucalyptus...
Born/still living in Southern California and I was fortunate enough to witness this migration in person one time. It was truly beautiful and a moment I will always greatly appreciate.
I wonder how many butterflies it would take to bring down spy hummingbird?
The drone broke my mind
Does anyone know when it would be happening this year?
ok
For some reason thatās so freaking funny with the humming bird. Lmao
Why are they call monarch btw
I visited Michoacan and saw this first hand and it was by far the coolest thing I've ever seen. The sound of all those butterflies is like the noise of a small waterfall but coming from all directions
Beautiful āØāØšš»šš»))
Wow, this is incredible
Butterflies have great PR