March of the Monarchs Passes Through Pennypack

As we sense the way daylight slips away earlier each evening, we are reminded from past experience that summer is going and winter is near. 

The Monarch butterfly knows this much better than we do, yet they have no past memories on which to base this, only instinct.

“The Monarch butterflies are a fascinating species,” Ehren Gross, enviornmental educator at Briar Bush Nature Center, said. 

The , or commonly referred to as just the "Trust," brought Gross brought on to spearhead the .

The family-friendly event is scheduled to take place at the Trust, from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 17.

“Scientists have found that Monarchs have magnets that show them where magnetic north and south are.”  Gross spent six years as a national park ranger at the Outer Banks, N.C., and along the coast in the Pacific northwest. 

He came to Briar Bush in 2009, a separate entity from the Trust, and is now going for a master’s degree in environmental education at Arcadia.

According to Gross, the Monarchs migrate from as far north as Canada down to Mexico when they sense that the days are getting shorter and winter is coming. 

In the spring, they migrate back north. 

For a brief period, they will be passing through Upper Moreland, and lay eggs only on milkweeds because that is the only thing the baby caterpillar will eat. 

The baby caterpillars grow fat over a few weeks, then form a chrysalis by shedding their skin, turning to "goo" inside that skin, and hanging from a leaf with silk they attach to their hind legs.  

After a few weeks inside the chrysalis, they emerge reborn as Monarch butterflies.

For the first 60 to 90 minutes, Gross will lead visitors to a display table where they can observe the different parts of butterflies through magnifiers and microscopes and enjoy coloring. 

Afterwards, Gross will take them on a hike through the Raytharn Farms meadow, where there is an abundance of milkweeds. 

“The Raytharn Farm is 160 acres,” says Lauren Steele, membership coordinator at the PERT.  “Since so many milkweeds grow there and not much in people’s backyards, we thought that we should have an event to teach everyone the benefit of learning about the Monarch butterflies.” 

That is because the Monarch butterflies are important to the ecosystem, according to Gross. 

“If the Monarchs aren’t doing well, that’s an indicator that the environment is in trouble,”  he said.

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Prior registration is required, and should be done at  by Friday, Sept. 16 at 5 p.m.

For registration, or for more information, visit http://pennypacktrust.org.