If there were to be a butterfly pageant, the Monarch would surely win.

ABOUT MONARCHS

No other butterfly is better known and better beloved than our big, bright Monarch. This is the butterfly we know best. Or do we?

What do we know about Monarch courtship? About Monarch's predators and their defenses? About the Monarchs that don't migrate and rather live out their lives in South Florida?

About the overwintering destinations? Are they all in Mexico and Southern California? Or might there be others? What do we know about the perils of the migrants, all along the way in their travels as well as in their overwintering places?

About Monarch conservation and how to protect this spectacular butterfly from the many threats to its survival--deforestation in its wintering sites, habitat degradation, fragmentation and loss in its breeding range, pesticides and herbicides, climate change, and invasive plants that swamp milkweed plants?
 

SPEAKERS

Butterfly Days 2009, a partnership of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and the Miami Blue Chapter of North American Butterfly Association, takes us backstage with the Monarch, where we will get to know our favorite butterfly in new and different ways.

If you saw the PBS Special this spring,"The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies," then you heard the comments of Lincoln Brower, Professor Emeritus, University of Florida and Research Professor, Sweet Briar College. Dr. Brower's long career has taken him traveling with the Monarchs, observing and analyzing their lives, and as this year's Robert L. Kelley Lecturer, Dr. Brower will take you traveling with the Monarchs and learning their ways as he has done.

Rick Cech, author of Butterflies of the East Coast, returns to Butterfly Days, this year with an under-the-microscope look at some fascinating aspects of butterfly biology.

Dr. Charles Covell, author of A Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America, will remind us that not all lepidoptera are butterflies. Moth species actually outnumber butterfly species manyfold, but are far less known because of their mainly nocturnal habits.

Roger Hammer, author of guides to Florida Keys wildflowers, Everglades wildflowers and Everglades National Park, will give us a close-up look at wild butterfly habitats and their food plants, especially the milkweeds.

Sandy Koi will elaborate the theme of butterfly migration and remind us that, while the Monarch is indisputably the most extraordinary butterfly migrant, other butterflies also surprise us with their ways of re-distributing themselves by season.

Pedro Lastra, well known instructor of digital photography at Fairchild, will give an overview of insect photography, both tools and techniques.
 

FOR THE KIDS

If you're a kid or a kid-at-heart, a new addition to the children's programs of Butterfly Days will bring kids indoors for some special butterfly songs, poems and stories.

FOR THE GARDENERS

Butterfly gardening will be highlighted with butterfly plant sales and Q&A programs and demonstrations by:

Cindy David, expert butterfly garden designer;

Steve Woodmansee, Pro Native Consulting, will raise our awareness and appreciation for lawn and garden "weeds" that support butterflies; and

Linda Evans, Vice-President of Miami Blue Chapter of NABA and one of the founding influences of Fairchild's superb butterfly garden, will help us take a close look at butterflies we can expect in our local gardens, with special attention on our Monarchs and other Milkweed butterflies.

Each day, the program of speakers will differ, so plan a weekend with butterflies!