Green Options

A remarkable dragonfly migration stretching between 14,000 and 18,000 kilometers has been discovered which spans the Indian Ocean.

The migration is by far the longest known insect migration, dwarfing the 7,000km journey of monarch butterflies. Millions of dragonflies make the epic migration every year, which spans from India to the Maldives, the Seychelles, Mozambique, Uganda and back again.

Perhaps the only thing more amazing than the migration is that it has somehow dodged scientific discovery until now. “This just illustrates how little we still know about the natural world,” said Charles Anderson, discoverer of the mass migration.

A new exterior film for glass has been developed which can be seen by birds but not humans. It could be used to help prevent the needless deaths of billions of birds which collide with windows annually.

Collisions with windows are estimated to be the most common cause of bird death worldwide aside from habitat loss. The numbers of deaths are staggering, outranking deaths by domestic cat, hunting, vehicular collisions, and wind turbine accidents combined. Thus, preventing bird-window collisions could be the simplest way to significantly reduce bird fatality around the world.

25% of all the world’s large-scale terrestrial migrations have already ceased due to habitat loss and human-caused changes to the landscape, and it may not be long before all migrations disappear entirely.

That according to a new study, which warns that with continued population growth, development and habitat encroachment, storied epics like those of wildebeest parading across the Serengeti or herds of bison rumbling across North American plains shall become tall tales of the past.

It’s something everyone should witness, at least once.  The Monarch butterfly migration, the longest of any butterfly.  The Monarch butterflies cover as much as 1,500 miles; their trip spans four generations of butterflies, mystifying the scientists not certain as to how, exactly, they return to the same spots to over-winter. To accomplish such aeronautical feat, they soar, taking advantage of the wind currents to reach such vast distances.  Such understanding of the Monarchs might lead more of us to think twice about using pesticides or accelerate our efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, both threatening their survival.

My family and I witnessed their winter resting place at an Eucalyptus grove in Pismo State Beach, California, where tens upon tens of thousands of fluttering Monarch butterflies gathered to over-winter every year from roughly October through February.  There are many other groves all along the coast, including in Pacific Grove.  On sunny days, a cacophony of activity ensues, with Monarch butterflies searching for flower nectar and water to drink as well as mating.  The Pismo State Beach grove is the largest in United States, with population numbers ranging from 15,000 to over 230,000.  It all makes for a spectacular and blazing show of color.  For the serious ecotraveler, you can also bicycle or take the Amtrak train to the grove.