The Monarch Butterflies in this calendar were the last generation of this particular season. We know this because the purple Rough Blazing Stars are flowering, so this means it's late August or September. The Monarchs from Canada are already heading south at the time, and the last generation of local Minnesota Monarchs are getting ready to do the same, feasting on these late-season wildflowers before they head off to Mexico.
This last generation of northern summer Monarchs are the "Super Monarchs". Eclosing from their chrysalides late in the season and with slightly lower temperatures and less sunlight, their wings are bigger, muscles stronger, and they are ready for an epic flight to their southern breeding grounds.
I try to capture them as they glide through the Goldenrod and the masses of Blazing Star, almost swimming with their powerful wings through the dense flowers as though they were a secret underwater garden. For a few weeks each year the grasslands and oak savanna of Minnesota teem with Monarchs like these, and then, one day they're gone. Many won't survive, but those that do will lay the eggs of the next generation in Mexico. Many generations after that we will see the rugged, travel-weary, great-grandchildren of those Super Monarchs return to Minnesota desperately looking for young Milkweed sprouts on which to lay their eggs before they perish...
These photos were all taken in Crow-Hassan Park Reserve, Minnesota, by Jason Alvey. No AI or photoshop was used in post production.
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