Where do the Monarch Butterflies go in Winter? Updated July 2022
I was born in Windsor, Ontario, not far from Point Pelee National Park, where the Monarch Butterflies congregate in September before migrating to Mexico. One of the joys of my childhood was seeing the many Monarchs flying around all summer. They were known to fly away someplace for the winter months and did not die like other butterflies.
In those days, no one knew where the butterflies went in the winter. A fellow Canadian named Fred Urquhart was wondering where they spent the winter. Indeed, he was fascinated by them and would spend hours watching them.
Tagging Butterflies
Dr. Urquhart became a professor of zoology. He married a fellow teacher and butterfly lover named Norah Patterson. First, Fred and Norah spent years trying to track the Monarch Butterflies on their migration without success. Then, in 1940, they experimented with putting a little tag on some butterflies that read “Send to Zoology University of Toronto Canada.”
After a few years, they decided that they needed help and advertised for assistants. As a result, thousands of people along the migration route volunteered. Urquhart sent them tags which they put on the butterflies. However, tagging could only be done in the fall with the last generation of summer butterflies as they are the only ones that migrate.
The Winter Sanctuary Found
Finally, a fellow by the name of Ken Brugger found the butterflies in the remote Sierra Madre mountains of central Mexico in 1975. The story and photos were published in National Geographic Magazine in August 1976. Were they the same ones that came from Canada? In January 1976, Fred Urquhart went to Mexico to see the butterflies. Consequently, he found one with a tag on it. Two schoolboys had tagged it in Chaska, Minnesota (each tag is numbered so it could be determined where it was tagged and by whom). It was proof that these were indeed butterflies from Canada and the northern U.S.A. The winter area of the Monarch butterfly was finally discovered after a 40-year search!
Out of a billion butterflies, only several thousand had been tagged. It was amazing that he was able to find one with a tag. He found it only five minutes after arriving at the site.
Of course, the local villagers must have known about the butterflies for hundreds of years but did not realize anyone was looking for them. They probably wondered where the butterflies went during the summer months.
In 1998, Fred and Norah Urquhart were awarded the Order of Canada for their work. Dr. Urquhart died in 2003 at the age of 90.
Fred and Norah’s son, Doug, is also passionate about the Monarch Butterflies. He extensively researched the Monarch Butterflies in New Zealand with his wife, Judith. I spent last winter in NZ and was very surprised to see Monarchs there. I had thought it was strictly a North American species.
More information
To capture the true discovery story onscreen, check out the award-winning Flight of the Butterflies. Click on the following link to see the trailer:
click here to read about my trip to the Monarch Butterfly sanctuary in Mexico
I Followed the Monarch Butterflies on Migration