Monarch Butterfly Alert: They’re Now Migrating Through Illinois

Last week, we told you that hummingbirds are currently migrating through Illinois on the way to their winter homes far away to the south of us, and we filled you in on when you should take down any hummingbird feeders that you may have up around your house.

The thing about hummingbirds is that if you don't have hummingbird feeders up, you'll probably never even notice that they were here to begin with, and you likely won't see them as they depart.

That's different than the ongoing migration of monarch butterflies through our state. Whether you feed them or not, you should definitely be noticing more of them right now than you did over the course of Illinois' summer because lots of them are flying through now on their way south.

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.