The Brunswick News

To see a million or so Monarch butterflies resting in trees in central Mexico after a 3,000-mile flight from Canada must have been a beautiful sight for local biologist Linda Lamb.

She plans to tell her story to an audience of children July 9 at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel during a program entitled, "Butterfly Flutter By."

Sue Anderson, Jekyll Island Club's guest programs director, said the program is part of a series that is designed for children and hosted by the club every Friday at 10 a.m.

Anderson asked Lamb to share her experience with the children in an effort to raise their environmental awareness and teach them to appreciate wildlife.

Lamb and other biologists went to Mexico in March to observe the butterflies at the destination of their migration from Canada and northern parts of the United States.

During the program, Lamb will control a slide show portraying images from the trip while describing the scenes to the children and telling them how extraordinary it was to witness the butterflies first hand.

There will also be learning involved, as Lamb explains the Monarchs' yearly migration and five stages of life.

According to Lamb, Monarch butterflies cannot survive a long, cold winter. Instead, they spend the winter in roosting spots.

Amazingly, they fly in masses to the same winter roosts, often to the exact same trees and it is their offspring's offspring that return south the following fall.

Lamb said the Monarch butterflies are the only butterflies that migrate.

Once they reach their destination they stay there from October until March.

"We use to have them here, but we don't see them much anymore because of the lack of milkweed," Lamb said.

Milkweed is the Monarch's key source of reproduction.

"(The) butterflies can only lay eggs on milkweed plant," Lamb said.

Following the slide presentation, Lamb and Anderson will help each child plant his own pot of milkweed to attract Monarch butterflies back to the area.

Lamb, who currently resides in Darien, is an accomplished naturalist originally from Atlanta.

Recently retiring after 30 years, Lamb taught at Fernbank Science Center and Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta.