The Monarch Migration

Monarch Butterfly in Victoria Educational Gardens, Victoria, TX

Butterflies are symbolic of new beginnings so they’re fitting for this initial blog post. They’re also associated with freedom and joy which is definitely how they make me feel whenever I see them. I always enjoyed watching the butterflies fluttering around my horse farm in Southern Illinois, usually when I was endlessly mowing horse pastures. Since I’ve moved back to South Texas and see them more frequently I’ve started learning a bit about butterfly conservation. There are butterfly groups, public gardens, entire parks and even butterfly festivals in my area.

With basically no knowledge about butterflies or butterfly photography last week I set out to photograph these colorful, little metaphors for transformation and growth… and now, I’m obsessed. The monarch migration is currently underway and I’ve learned that not only do they fly up to 3000 thousand miles to find a suitable winter location, but they are the only butterfly known to make a two-way migration, similar to what birds do each year. Recently the National Butterfly Center in Mission, TX held a 4 day Butterfly Festival, which I didn’t attend, but I’m planning a road trip to check it out soon. I’ve found the Monarch Joint Venture to be a great source of information about conservation and migration.

I love being able to photograph butterflies throughout November! In an upcoming post I’ll share more images and tips on what worked out well, and what didn’t when photographing butterflies.