MONARCH MIGRATION MYSTERY

by Gwen Austin

Copyright 1998

How do you know
where to go
when winter’s near?

You, with your pin-head brain,
who have never been there before,
how do you know
it’s off to California
or Mexico you must go?

Scientists know
autumnal equinox triggers
your departure,
but what makes you go
where you go?
And how do you know
 how to get there?

Weighing less than one half ounce,
how can your body fat sustain
flight across all those miles
and through the winter?

As you cling to a tree
80 miles from Mexico City,
have you thoughts of the morrow
when you must return
to your place of origin?

You, and your myriads
look like you’d smother each other,
as you wile away winter.

If you choose your tree well,
in correct temperature range,
your body fat will last
through hibernation’s fast.

If you get too hot,
you flutter your wings,
or you might
flee to a shady spot,
or cooler heights
of designer clouds
with up-flipped curls.

Wherever you go,
your gossamer gathering
shimmers in golden glow
like leaves of quaking aspen.

Beware predators abound
in your wintering ground.

Birds generally leave you alone,
for they have learned
your black-webbed
bright orange wings
POISON.

But deer mice surely must sing
at their butterfly buffet,
dining on fat-enriched bodies,
casting aside each plucked wing.

On vernal equinox,
it’s time
to arise to the sky
and fly
back to your home place,
laying
eggs
 along
 the
 way
for the next generation
of monarch butterfly.

How do THEY know
where to go
to escape winter cold and snow?

GREAT PHOTOS OF MONARCHS