GERMANTOWN, Md. — This fall is a season of hope for people trying to restore endangered migratory Monarch butterflies in our region.
The Monarchs make one of the longest migrations for an insect known on the planet.
This summer, migratory Monarchs from eastern North America were declared an endangered species by the International Union for The Conservation of Nature. The plant they depend on here in North America, milkweed, has been all but eradicated by modern agriculture.
As a result, the butterfly population and its spectacular, one-of-a-kind, annual migration to a famed forest in Michoacán, Mexico have been decimated according to the IUCN.
A growing number of garden enthusiasts in our region are taking action by planting patches of milkweed in an attempt to restore the butterflies' habitat.
Now, Monarchs that hatched in gardens all over the DMV are heading to Mexico to reproduce and start the cycle all over again.
Mike Bailey and his wife Janice Bailey of Germantown, Maryland are among those who are now eagerly propagating milkweed in their yard.
Mike Bailey admits, he has gone bonkers for butterflies.
"You cannot have monarch butterflies if you don't have milkweed," Bailey said.
The couple's garden has produced spectacular results. During the summer, migratory Monarchs found Bailey's milkweed right away and laid eggs.
By late September a crop of colorful caterpillars devoured the leaves and was prepared to transform themselves into butterflies by forming the cocoon-like pod called a chrysalis.
In a makeshift butterfly nursery in his garage, he has documented the emerging butterflies. Bailey captured the process with a time-lapse on his phone.
He then places tags provided by MonarchWatch.org on their wings in hopes that scientists in Mexico will be able to track where the butterflies they find there originate from.
Bailey has tagged 60 butterflies this season and is eager to see their future generations return to Germantown.
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