Too Late to Migrate? Tagged Monarch Gives Hope
October, 2008
(More True Stories About Tagged Monarch Butterflies)

Monarchs can travel quickly when the wind and weather are right. In October, 2008, scientists with the Cape May Monarch Monitoring Project in New Jersey discovered how quickly:

• The scientists tagged a monarch in New Jersey on October 9th. The butterfly was found in Georgia just three days later. That's a distance of 558 miles!

If it's late fall and you have butterflies to release, wait for a stretch of sunny days with temperatures at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Then hope there will be enough warm days to give your late-season monarch time to escape the northern cold. (In order to fly, monarchs need temperatures at least 50°F when sunny and at least 60°F when cloudy.)