The Jersey Shore Is Swarming With Butterflies

UPDATE - Thanks to our Facebook fan Barbara A. for pointing out that the butterfly in the photo below is a red admiral butterfly, not a monarch. It's always good to learn something new. Thanks, Barbara! - Justin

Original article follows:

I'm no monarch butterfly expert (and yes, there are monarch butterfly experts), but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the monarch butterfly population at the Jersey Shore appears to be healthy this year.

Here, meet my co-host for today's show at our Seaside Park studio:

And that's just one of the monarch butterfly visitors that I have in the studio today. As I'm typing this, I've got three of them hanging out with me.

Of course, the southern end of the Jersey Shore is famous for Cape May's annual monarch butterfly migration, when scores of the fluttering bugs make the 3,000 mile migration south to spend the winter in Mexico.

You can totally encourage monarch to stop by and hang out at your garden, too. Just click here to read about how to make your outdoor space monarch-friendly.