Monarch butterflies migrate south Oct 3, 2018

Monarch butterflies migrate south

Fall sets in motion a journey of some 3,000 miles for these monarch butterflies, which migrate from southern Canada to their wintering habitat in central Mexico. There, they cluster together in fir trees, creating the illusion of orange, fluttering foliage. They’ll remain in their winter roosts until March, when the journey back north begins. But no one individual monarch will complete the full roundtrip, which exceeds the normal monarch lifespan; instead it will take four generations of monarchs to complete the full migration, each individual seemingly driven by an internal compass that guides its flight path.

© Alejandro Prieto/Minden Pictures

palette

Today in History

Oct 3, 2019Love on ice
Oct 3, 2020In the belly of Fat Bear Week
Oct 3, 2021Birthplace of Roman emperors
Oct 3, 2022World Architecture Day
Oct 3, 2023Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Island, Australia
Oct 3, 2024Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India
Oct 3, 2025Glen Brittle, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Oct 3, 2026Brown bear in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Alaska

More Desktop Wallpapers:

May 17, 2022Salt ponds of Maras, Peru
Sep 23, 2021Last stop before leaving the solar system
Sep 18, 2023Fall Astronomy Week
Jan 26, 2023Heavens Gate Cave, Tianmen Mountain National Park, China
Sep 24, 2019With leaves this tasty, who cares about a view?
Oct 12, 2018Venture into a prehistoric gallery of art
Jan 25, 2019Fighting evil with costumes
Jan 26, 2024Northern hawk-owl
Oct 23, 2018Of moles and liquid nitrogen
Dec 15, 2025Spiegelgracht canal in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Oct 28, 2022Frankenstein Friday
Apr 3, 2019Dark skies over New Mexico
Jul 15, 2023Castelmezzano, Italy
Mar 18, 2023Gamboa Crater, Mars
Mar 7, 2020Summer winds down in the Southern Hemisphere
Sep 12, 2021A grand event
May 20, 2018Who doesn’t love a ‘Puppy’?
Oct 16, 2019Paleontology meets art
Aug 22, 2025Rolling hills of the Palouse, Washington
Apr 17, 2026International Bat Appreciation Day
Dec 20, 2024Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland
Aug 3, 2019Cetacean Saturday
Oct 6, 2026International Geodiversity Day
Jul 18, 2023Great hornbill, Thailand
May 10, 2018Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, New York
Feb 28, 2019Over and under the delta
Sep 5, 2021Venice s grand regatta
Apr 10, 2018It’s Siblings Day!
May 11, 2025Happy Mothers Day!
Sep 19, 2023Splügen Pass, Switzerland