Crossroads Hosts “Monarch Adventure”

The fields and meadows at Crossroads at Big Creek are vivid with wildflowers. The golds and lavenders of early fall flowers are now being accented with the orange and black of monarch butterflies.

Instead of breeding and laying eggs, as they have done all summer, the butterflies will soon be compelled to migrate. The monarchs that currently are spending time in the flowery upland areas of Crossroads will spend the winter in Mexico.

During migration, monarchs travel an average 80 miles a day. Researchers have learned that when these butterflies reach their winter home, the monarchs weigh five times more than when they began their journey. The food stored in their bodies will keep them alive as they rest through the winter. In fact, they use so little food during their semi-hibernation that they still have energy reserves enough to fly north in the spring.

Migrating monarch butterflies don’t use much energy. They are so light that they are able to ride weather patterns. They flutter into the wind and let it carry them for miles, often across several states.

The travel route of the monarchs is flower-related, reaching an area at the time that the fields of nectar-rich blossoms are at their peak. And here in Door County, that time is now.

Every year, the Wisconsin Audubon Society sponsors a “Monarch Adventure” at Crossroads. The informational program will be led by Ann Shebesta and begins at 1 pm. Following the program, families will capture, tag, and release the butterflies.

This field trip is suitable for children four years old and up, although you do not need children to attend the program. Children are encouraged to wear long pants, and there will be butterfly nets available.

Crossroads is also host to a variety of other programs, including a tour of the Historical Village on Sunday, August 30 from 1:30 – 4 pm, and spinning demonstrations that same day by Paddi Elliott at 2 and 3 pm on the Warren House porch. The September meeting of the Door Peninsula Astronomical Society will also be taking place at the Stonecipher Astronomy Center on Tuesday, September 1 at 7 pm.

For more information on these programs, call 920.743.5895.