July 4th A Butterfly did Flutter By

I spotted a Monarch Butterfly in the garden, which I thought was unusual for winter time. They are such a beautiful butterfly. I decided to do a bit of  research on the Monarch and found out some interesting facts, of which I was not aware.

The Monarch Butterfly is not native to New Zealand, but actually established itself here on it's own. So it was not a species introduced by man. With the Monarch being native to North America, that was a very long migration to embark upon.  I always thought they had a short life span, but not so. They can live for up to 60 to 70 days, but if they pupate in Autumn, their life span can extend out to 7 months. Which is why I was privileged to see one today. One of the wise old ones from the clan, making the most  of winter sunshine to get out and have a feed.