extinct butterflies
pulling weeds: wait! no food, no eggs
dull spring, colors unfurled
The unintended consequences of large-scale farming with pesticides and small-time gardeners eradicating weeds are butterflies (and other insects) no longer have safe places to eat and reproduce. So to save them from extinction organizations like Monarch Watch have sprung up.
Monarch Watch encourages people to grow weeds to save butterflies, especially the Monarch butterfly which migrates from the north to the south laying eggs on s milkweed and eating while they travel up to three thousand miles to warmer climates. Problem is habitats are disappearing. So organizations and people are being encouraged to grow weeds to create waystations for the monarchs’ annual journey. How sad would this world be without butterflies?
References:
Photograph: I added the haiku to the photograph:
Monarch Butterfly resting on Fennel. Viewed at the Pismo Butterfly Grove located on Hwy. I, a short distance from the entrance to Pismo Beach State Park, November 15, 2008
by Joyce Cory, uploaded to wikimedia 3/21/2010 for Danaus plexippus page
under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
all copyrights to original photograph belong to Joyce Cory.