Illinois Butterflies: The Monarchs Have Started Migrating South

Illinois does have its problems, but one thing is for certain: our state is a great place to observe migrating monarch butterflies as they begin their long migration south to Mexico to spend the winter months.

What makes Illinois a great spot?

The fact that Illinois lies in the central flyway of the eastern monarch migration route, connecting Mexico and southern Canada, means that the hundreds of thousands of monarch butterflies that have spent the summer north of Illinois in places like Canada will be coming back through Illinois in their southern migration.

And they're just getting started here in late August, with the migration continuing on until they arrive at their destination in mid-November.

You Know What's More Interesting Than Monarch Butterflies In The Midst Of A Huge Migration South? The Reason They're Called Butterflies To Begin With, That's What

That's what we call a "tease" here in the article-posting game. Read on to find out if the reason butterflies are called butterflies is actually interesting, or if I'm just trying to get more clicks out of you.

It might be both.

It Turns Out That Butterflies Are Named After...Wait For It...Poop (I had another word, but our editors nixed it)

I just learned a few months ago that these letters, "TIL," mean "Today I Learned." So, I'll use it here in my explanation of butterflies being named after poop.

According to CBC.ca, and backed up by multiple other websites that I visited, TIL:

Dutch scientists were studying butterflies, and they took a look at their poop — which is officially called frass.

They noticed that the droppings looked an awful lot like butter. So they gave the insect the name butterfly.

Not enough proof for you? Here's what TheFactSource.com says about that (keep in mind that their name is the fact source, so it's got to be true):

... the most probable origin of the word butterfly is a biological one. Most butterflies have yellow colored excrements, similar to butter. Dutch language word for butterfly is “boterschijte”, which literally means “butter-pooper” or...(Dutch vulgarity for excrement).

I think we're done here.

We Only Get A Short Period Of TIme To Catch The Monarch Migration Here In Northern Illinois, And It's Already Started

There have already been some news stories about swarms of monarchs heading south through Michigan, meaning that those same swarms are making their way to and through our area, on to the Mississippi Valley, through Texas, until finally hitting their winter home in Mexico.

According to NBC-Chicago, if you happen to miss out on seeing the bigger groupings of the monarchs here in mid-September, you should still be able to catch some groups of stragglers until early October.