Finding Utah Butterflies-->The Monarch (Danaus plexippus)

Overview:

The Monarch butterfly migrates regularly into Utah from Arizona, Californica, and Mexico.  It usually begins to arrive from May to July and begins breeding immediately.  Adult butterflies seek out three general types of habitat which include agricultural fields (if there are enough flowers in bloom), valley floor wet meadows where monarchs roost in Russian Olive trees during the heat of summer days, and in Wasatch Front Canyons where milkweeds grow sporadically in groups near roadsides.  The biggest obstacle to finding Monarchs in our valleys is private property issues as adults of this butterfly frequent wet meadows that are regularly flooded by farmers through irrigation ditches in order to feed cattle.

Note: To leverage the next section and fly to specific locations, you need to install Google Earth.

Specific Localities:

http://www.utahlepsociety.org/slcintlairport.html
Lehi, Utah County, Utah.  N40 22'21.50" W111 51'22.01 or click here.
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah. N40 48'50.55" W111 57'2.38" or click here.
Castledale, Emery County, Utah. N39 12'38.81" W111 0'22.19" or click here.

Flight Periods:

Adult Monarchs can be found from May through September with the peak flight being in August and September. 

Raising Caterpillars Resources:

Monarch caterpillars can be found on the underside of milkweed leaves (Asclepias speciosa) either taking refuge under Russian Olive Tree areas found in wet agricultral meadows or along small clumps of milkweed growing in Northern Utah Canyons.

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFM-3w-erc4  
pdf: http://utahbugclub.org/layout/pdf/Raising_plexippus.pdf 
Raising Butterflies: http://www.raisingbutterflies.org/the-monarch/  

 

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