Multiple animals migrate to Iowa

 

Monarch butterflies are move through Iowa on their migration journey to Mexico in the month of September, birds or butterflies aren’t the only ones migrating. 

Some Iowa bats stay all year and find places to hibernate as temperatures cool. That could be the cause of other bats migrating south. 

Researchers have discovered that bats seem to be drawn to wind turbines, and some are stuck and killed by the blades spinning.

Dragonflies such as the common green downer will  migrate. Dragonflies lay their eggs in the winter. Their predatory nymphs develop on pond bottoms. The nymph may live several months to several years before emerging from the water as a flying adult. Adults live up to six months before they lay eggs and start the cycle. Adult dragonflies that emerge from Iowa ponds this summer are migrating south. Dragonflies may fly up to 900 miles before laying their eggs and dying.

Migrational moves are driven by finding more comfortable temperatures, food and water sources. Some of our ancestors also migrated, when animals they hunted migrated or food became hard to find in one place or easier to find in another. 

Some of us are still migrating today, as “snowbirds” prepare for their annual trip to the sunny south for the winter months.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.