Monarch migration on Tosa trail could be best in years

Wauwatosa – Local monarch butterfly enthusiasts are crossing their fingers for what may be the best fall migration in a decade, and plan to put out the welcome mat for the beloved butterflies at the Friends of the Monarch Trail Annual Migration Celebration from 4 to 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26, at the Echelon Commons, 9810 Echelon Lane, on the Milwaukee County Grounds in Wauwatosa.

There is plenty of reason for hope that monarch numbers will be up. Scientists have been predicting since early spring that this could be the best year for the beloved butterfly since 2008. Those predictions have been borne out in monarch watcher reports from across the nation throughout the summer.

There is no predicting, though, just when or whether large numbers of monarchs will arrive at any one given place on their annual journey south to the mountains of Mexico. Nevertheless, the Friends of the Monarch Trail will gather and invite the public to join in on what is considered the kick-off date of the migration in southeast Wisconsin, Aug. 26.

Among the features of the event are music, food and beverages, monarch life-cycle displays and butterfly releases, guided trail tours and monarch face-painting. Experts on monarchs and milkweed – the only plants monarchs lay eggs on, and which their caterpillars can eat – will be on hand to answer any and all questions.

The Monarch Trail was founded to preserve and protect the rare natural phenomenon of annual monarch migration roost sites. It’s one of only a few places where the migrating butterflies are known to show up and rest for the night in the same place, year after year. It is possible in some years to see hundreds and in very good years even thousands of monarchs on any evening from the last week of August through the first week of October.

What: The Friends of the Monarch Trail Annual Migration Celebration

When: 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018

Where: Echelon Commons, 9810 Echelon Lane, on the Milwaukee County Grounds in Wauwatosa

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.