A Monarch butterfly sits on a tree trunk at the Sierra Chincua Sanctuary in the mountains of Mexico's Michoacan state in this Dec. 9, 2011, file photo. An unprecedented migration of monarch butterflies has brought the fragile, orange-and-black fliers north all the way from their wintering grounds in Mexico in numbers that lovers of the brightly coloured insects have never seen before. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/ Marco Ugarte
June 19, 2012 - 2:14 PM
EDMONTON - The hearts of butterfly lovers are fluttering over an unprecedented migration north of monarchs all the way to Edmonton and points beyond.
The fragile, orange-and-black wanderers have flitted thousands of kilometres from their wintering grounds in Mexico.
University of Alberta naturalist John Acorn says it's the biggest movement north of monarchs in recorded history.
There have been dozens of sightings over the last couple of weeks.
Katelyn Windels, who is 12, spotted one fluttering in the grass outside her family's greenhouse in Lavoy, about 100 kilometres east of Edmonton.
She says it's amazing to see such a tiny, delicate creature and realize how far it has flown.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012