Day 14: We Bicycle Down to the National Butterfly Center

About a mile east of our RV park is the National Butterfly Center that is located at 3333 Butterfly Park Drive, Mission Texas.  It was created by a wealthy family from New Jersey and now exists as a non-profit organization to study and help preserve butterflies.  It is not large, with a main building that houses educational displays with a section where butterfly videos and merchandise are sold.  It also has a few acres of gardens with plants to attract various butterflies.  For a $10 donation one gets to tour both.

This is main entrance and building.

Bill poses at the sign by the road.  Our RV park can be seen in the distance over his shoulder.

This is the migration routes of the Monarch Butterfly.  A staff member told us that four years ago their surveys showed about 60 million Monarchs in North America.  Last year the count was down to three million!  Spray pesticides, loss of habitat, and systemic pesticides engineered into hybrid plants are the main cause for the decline.

Here is the female Monarch on the top and male in the bottom picture.  A male has wings with more of a 90 degree angle from the body and less curvature.  We found out that Monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains winter in southern California and not Mexico.

The Center was selling plants to attract butterflies at home.