It’s National Learn About Butterflies Day!
Spring is right around the corner. What an excellent time to take a few minutes to learn something new about butterflies! Butterflies and other pollinators play an important and vital role in our ecosystem!
Here are a few things you can do to help support butterflies and pollinators in our community!
- Plan a layout for a wildflower garden filled with a variety of native Minnesota nectar and host plants! Choose flowers that will bloom at different times throughout the summer months into fall.
- Provide a water source for the pollinators, such as a puddling station. Fill a small dish with a mix of sand and soil, add small rocks for pollinators to perch on. The pollinators will use their proboscis to drink from the damp soil and absorb nutrients!
- Don’t rush to clean up dead leaves and brush in the spring! Wait until temperatures are consistently above 50. Some pollinators are still resting inside the left over brush.
- Watch a documentary or read a book to learn more about butterflies!
- Wings of Life or Flight of the Butterflies are fantastic options to watch!
- Monarch Butterflies by Ann Hobbie or Gotta Go! Gotta Go! by Sam Swope are excellent to read!
- Share with us what your family is doing to learn about butterflies on this special day! Use #CMSMLearnAboutButterfliesDay
Fun Facts About Butterflies
- There are more than 20,000 types of butterflies worldwide.
- Butterfly wings are made up of tiny scales that give them their unique color and pattern variations.
- A female monarch in the wild can lay up to 500 eggs on milkweed plants throughout her summer (2-5 week) lifespan!
- Monarch butterflies can flap their wings up to 12 times per second, perfect to help them on their 3,000 mile journey to the Oyamel Forests of Mexico in the fall!
- Adult monarchs live 2-5 weeks throughout the summer months. However, the migratory generation will live 6-9 months!
