May welcomes many migrating animals back to New York State from their wintering grounds, including the familiar monarch butterfly. These amazing insects migrate all the way to Mexico and spend the winter there in very large groups. In the spring, this generation starts moving northwards until they reach the southern United States, where they breed and die soon after. That same year, the next generation hatches and turns into adult butterflies, continuing the trip north. The cycle repeats itself again, until they reach the northern states, including New York. Here, additional generations are born. Those that hatch during the late summer migrate back to Mexico. They are the third and fourth generations of those who migrated there the year before! The monarch butterfly is one of the few insect species that completes this generational migration.
