ADOT Kids: Arizona welcomes monarch butterflies

Hey kids! Coming to a roadside near you may be an interesting friend of desert plants and flowers. 

During summer and fall, monarch butterflies begin their annual migration from cooler regions of the United states to warmer areas south and west of Arizona. Millions of monarchs fly nearly 3,000 miles to reach their destinations. This is a long journey for such tiny creatures!

These special pollinators sip nectar from a variety of flowers along the way, including those along Arizona’s roadways. What is so different about this butterfly is its unique feeding habits. The milkweed plant is the only plant that monarch butterflies visit to lay their eggs and the only source of food for newly hatched monarch caterpillars. In fact, when baby caterpillars eat the milkweed it provides nutrition and it also makes them taste yucky to predators like birds and other animals. This gives the caterpillar a better chance of surviving to transform into beautiful butterflies.  

Try your hand at the butterfly maze activity, where the pollinator needs your help to find its favorite plant, the milkweed. Smiling butterflies await your creativity on this Butterfly Copycat coloring page. 

ADOT Biologist Alexa Lopezlira works with monarch conservationists to monitor certain areas along state highways to find suitable environments for milkweed. This is part of a bigger partnership with other state and federal agencies to promote awareness of the monarch and its habitat.  

“ADOT is a supporter of a program known as the Monarch Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances. What our involvement means,” Lopezlira said, “is that ADOT will be planting and managing butterfly-friendly habitat along roadsides to help monarch butterflies during migration and help ensure future populations of monarchs thrive.” 

Watch around you to spot brilliant orange and black butterflies on a nature trail, in your own backyard or during a road trip. Please visit ADOT Kids for all sorts of educational stories, activities and videos.