NOW TRENDING: Butterfly migration makes stop in Muskogee

Sep. 17—We might not notice, but the flight patterns of Monarch butterflies include stops in Muskogee.

Turns out our climate and the rampant growth of the milkweed plant around here with its milky sap attracts butterflies.

Not only is Muskogee one of many stops during the Monarch migration, but we also are known for the Honor Heights Butterfly Papilion, an open air butterfly house that's home to 300 native butterflies from May through September.

Also, our community celebrates butterflies during the annual Moonlight Monarch fund raiser at the Papilion.

All this attention to the butterfly is exciting and an opportunity to share with each other the importance of butterflies in our community.

Over this past weekend, Monarch butterfly aficionados gathered at the Roxy Theatre to learn more about the Monarch. The event was sponsored by A More Beautiful Muskogee.

So here's the magical, fascinating story of the Monarch and its life cycle, which is called metamorphosis.

The Monarch's life stages are egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly. The transformation into an adult Monarch takes between 28 and 32 days to complete.

And part of the butterfly's journey to adulthood is spent in our own backyard, literally.

Monarch females lay their eggs on milkweed, which is the only plant its caterpillars can eat. The plant is growing everywhere around here and just one egg laid on the underside of a milkweed leaf hatches in about 4 days.

Remember reading the childhood book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle? That might have been the first lesson for many of us to learn about caterpillars and how they become butterflies.

Please don't run out to the backyard and start crawling around in the milkweed. The plant's sap is dangerous and you cannot touch it to your face or eyes. Only a magnifying glass will allow you to see the eggs and define the vertical ridges along the sides of the eggs. As the caterpillar develops, the egg will darken and you can see a tiny dark caterpillar preparing to emerge from the egg shell.

Once out of its shell, the miniscule caterpillar jumps into an eating frenzy of milkweed leaves for around 10 days. When the growing caterpillar is about 4 inches long, it leaves the milkweed plant to find a safer place to continue its journey into adulthood. The stages of growth are the pupa stage when the caterpillar creates a green casing called a chrysalis. After around 10 days, the adult butterfly emerges.

Most Monarch butterflies are born in the spring and summer and only live for 2-6 weeks. If a Monarch is born in the late summer, it migrates to Mexico to spend the summer in a warm climate.

So, the stopover in Muskogee and in places across the state and other locations is pretty short.

When milkweed begins to grow again in our spring garden, we can expect female Monarchs that have mated to return to Oklahoma. Then, as more butterflies are produced they will continue to head north and eventually return to our state. It's the cycle of life.

The Journey North organization is a citizen science tool that collects sightings during the Monarch journey. Folks across the state are watching to determine the first sighting of the Monarch, which is considered endangered. Scientists and gardeners study the butterfly growth patterns and report on its success across.

What an honor it is for Muskogee and our Papilion to take part in the study of Monarchs and other butterflies.

Andrea Chancellor has more than 20 years in newspaper and magazine journalism, and 20 years in corporate public relations.