MonarchMonarch
Size - 90 to 100mm.
On the wing - May to well into the fall.
Range - Coast to coast.
Host plants - Milkweed.
Favourite habitat - Variable open areas.
Special notes - The Monarch is Presqu'iles claim to fame so to speak. Every year thousands of these butterflies start their migration from this point. Don Davis, the resident expert, runs a tagging program here and logs their patterns from reports as far away as Mexico. 1999 saw a considerable rebound in the numbers after several lean years following the large losses in Mexico several years ago due to an unusual freeze. As you probably already know the Monarch larva feed exclusively on members of the milkweed family. It is the consumption of this plant, which contains cardiac glycosides, that has made the caterpillar and the adult butterfly distasteful to predators.
