Monarch Migration
They weigh less than a gram and have over 2000 miles to fly. The monarch butterfly migration is always a major event, but naturalists say they're counting monarchs in record-breaking numbers this year. And Cape May, New Jersey is one of the best spots in the world to view them during their journey to the mountains of Mexico.
Cape May lies at the southern tip of New Jersey -- at the end of a long, south-pointing peninsula. The black-and-orange travelers like to fly over land as much as possible...so an incredible number of the monarchs funnel together here before re-fueling for the 14-mile journey across the Delaware Bay.
On this page you'll find photos a FEW of the hundreds of millions of monarchs making the journey this year. Metro Connection's Nature Editor Mark Garland even "tagged" a few monarchs during our interview. "Tagging" the monarchs doesn't hurt them and helps naturalists collect data on butterfly habits and migration routes.
All images were taken by either Mark Garland or David Furst.
Naturalist Mark Garland carefully employs the butterfly net...
...and then finds a new friend.
