SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Arizona grows in popularity this time of year as the temperatures drop.
Like snowbirds, butterflies are making their way into the state, according to Entomologist Derek Kellogg with Butterfly Wonderland in Scottsdale.
Kellogg said that Monarch butterflies love to migrate through State 48 for the winter and they're making the journey now.
"They're about somewhere in between St. Louis and Chicago," he said. "About half of the Monarchs will go down south to Mexico but the others will head to California."
Kellogg credited the active monsoon season for playing a role in the larger migration and said that their familiar orange and black pattern is appealing to locals and tourists alike.
"This year's rains being what they were, this is a really great year for butterflies because when the host plants do well, the butterflies do really well," he said. "They're very colorful, they're out during the same times of the day that we're out, they also visit flowers, which we do as well, and their flight is not menacing, they just floating from one place to the next."
For more information on migration, visit the Butterfly Wonderland website.
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