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Tricia | all galleries >> Photo a Day >> Photo Most Days 2008 > Monarch butterfly
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20-SEP-2008 Tricia

Monarch butterfly

Point Pelee, Ontario view map

We went to Point Pelee in Ontario, a very beautiful place, which for a few special days each autumn, is a temporary home to thousands
of migrating monarch butterflies. As soon as favourable conditions occur, they begin one of nature's greatest journeys by crossing Lake Erie.
They cannot linger, for their destination is some 3000 km further south in the mountains of central Mexico! The Great Lakes are a significant
barrier to the monarchs' migration. As they move south, they search for shorter ways across the lake and the Pelee peninsula provides an
excellent start as Point Pelee's shape funnels the monarchs to the tip. If the weather is cold, they will roost in trees and wait for warmer
temperatures and favourable winds to cross the lake. If the weather is warm, they will often go directly across the lake without stopping
in the park. We were fortunate enough to be there on one of those magical days, wonderful blue skies and gentle warm winds, so a monarch
would flutter past us about every 30 seconds on average. It was VERY difficult to photograph them in flight, but I did get some shots of this
one eating its last meal for a while, before setting off on its long journey to Mexico.

Canon EOS 40D ,Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1/200s f/11.0 at 100.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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tammie06-Oct-2008 04:22
Excellent shot and very infomative narration. How lucky that you got to be there.
Sayer22-Sep-2008 00:23
Very nice... and wonderful description of the amazing event.
Jackdad21-Sep-2008 19:07
sounds like quite an experience!
Nicki Thurgar21-Sep-2008 17:50
Wow, I bet that was an amazing sight, great catch of the butterfly!
Coleen Perilloux Landry21-Sep-2008 16:46
Fascinating and a beautiful image.
Ann...21-Sep-2008 16:03
A lovely shot - what a wonderful thing to see!!