For Hanlon, the butterflies serve a practical value: as pollinators for the flora that bloom across the garden and as a small army of winged support staff for future growth. As she looked out over the garden on a cool October day, she broke down in precise detail her goals for the community space. It’s a nearly endless list of plans in progress and those yet to begin.
But the monarchs have symbolic importance, too.
“I think caring about your environment and what’s in your environment is important,” said Hanlon. “There’s nothing that makes me happier than to sit down and watch butterflies or hummingbirds or any of the pollinators out here.”
A soft breeze shook the branches of the garden, sending several butterflies into flight. They slowly disappeared into the distance.
‘Like a butterfly in a hurricane’
The peak of butterfly migration along the eastern Appalachian flyway coincides with the tail-end of the Atlantic hurricane season. So how are butterflies impacted by tropical cyclones?
While there is evidence that hurricanes can knock butterflies off course or trigger mass movement, anecdotal accounts indicate that butterflies can sense when a storm is coming and know to “hunker down,” according to a 2018 study.
“Most monarchs pass through the hurricane zones in October and November, avoiding the majority of major hurricanes which occur in September or earlier,” that study’s authors wrote. “Thus, based on the current hurricane seasonal timing, monarchs and hurricanes are generally unlikely to directly cross paths.”
But Xerces Society butterfly specialist Kevin Burls noted that report is based on historical hurricane data.
“Here we are in October with plenty of hurricanes, so we are in a changing time!” Burls wrote in an email.
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