The Monarch Butterfly Release... A Family Fall Ritual: The Last Word

I love the fall. For many reasons. One is a special activity my wife and I did with our kids and are now doing with our grandkids. A butterfly release.  It's fun, educational, and important. My grandsons AJ, 4, and Owen,1, have already released a monarch butterfly in our backyard this year.  There will be more to come in the weeks ahead. The grandkids are following the childhood tradition of their dad and their Aunt Emily of releasing monarchs after watching them transform from caterpillar to butterfly.

The metamorphosis is awe-inspiring. It's also astonishing to think that a delicate, lightweight, and beautiful monarch butterfly, released in Erie in the fall, will fly over 3,000 miles for a winter migration to Mexico.

Heather Gula is the education director at the Erie Zoo.

"It is amazing to see people's faces when they hear how far these little guys go. It is always a sight to see,” she says.

It's a great learning experience for children to search for caterpillars under the leaves of milkweed then placing the caterpillars inside a mesh cage along with some fresh milkweed. The children watch as the caterpillars eat and grow. The caterpillars eventually climb up the cage. Each caterpillar forms into a J-shape, and soon transforms into a chrysalis. In 8 to 15 days, monarch butterflies break from the chrysalises and are ready to be released.

The good news is that new butterflies are pollinators that are essential for plants and crops to grow. The bad news is that the population of monarch butterflies is declining at a drastic rate. The Erie Zoo has been tagging monarch butterflies for the past eight years.

"At one point in time, we were tagging about 1200 monarchs a season and now we're down to about 300 monarchs a season. So we have seen that decrease even though we have increased the spaces for them,” says Heather.

The Erie Zoo is among many organizations that are educating people on how to help save the monarch butterfly. It's not just children who love the tiny creatures. One of the most popular exhibits ever at the zoo was a walk-in butterfly tent offered last year.

"You wouldn't think that a little butterfly would be that exciting but we saw some people actually crying because they were so excited to see the butterflies," says Heather.

The Erie Zoo also serves as a botanical garden with a special interest in attracting pollinators such as the monarch butterfly. You'll find plenty of milkweed at the zoo as well as nectar plants that butterflies need for food.