Bye Bye Butterfly

The Monarch butterfly is slowly losing its habitat. It is about to become an endangered species. There are only 30 million monarchs left. Specifically its losing its host plant Milkweed. The reason is that milkweed grows naturally in meadows and cornfields and is concentrated in the midwest and as farmers use more and more glyphosate, ie Roundup, milkweed is becomming a hard native to come by.
As the host plant goes so too goes the Monarch. Not only does the insect feed off of the leaves, it lays its eggs on the leaves and stems insuring future generations.
Glyphosate is a Monsanto product and its pretty clear how Monsanto feels about human beings let alone native insects.
So please, without being preachy, don't use glyphosate, tell your neighbors why they shouldn't use it and think about planting milkweed in your garden. There are a lot of species of milkweed. Many if not most are food for butterflies and hummingbirds. If you have enough space it can exist unobtrusively somewhere on the grounds without becomming a weedy nightmare like many perennials. It spreads on its own so it'll need some space. There are other plants too that are food for monarchs. A little googling will yield a long list.

Monarch butterfly and its host plant Milkweed

Their breeding territory in mexico is getting heavily clear cut as well. I use to remember seeing these butterflies a lot as a kid, now it seems few and far between. Another interesting fact is that the ones going north are not the ones going south, but they still stop and hang on the same trees.

I have a pair that visit the honey suckle type plants and
others on my property almost daily.
In flight, they are beautiful to say the least.