Butterfly Release
September 16th & 17th
10am -4pm
Ages 0-2: Free
Butterfly Release Daily Schedule
Help us Release hundreds of butterflies during this magical event. Every year we release our butterflies back into the environment and invite guests to join and experience the beauty of butterflies flying all around.
Butterfly Pickup: 11:00am-11:30am
Butterfly Release Session 1: 11:30am
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Butterfly Pickup: 1:30pm-2:00pm
Butterfly Release Session 2: 2:00pm
Raptor Hallow Animal Show Schedule
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The Flights of Wonder Animal Show is an immersive one of a kind experience. Raptor Hallow's feathered friends take flight right in front of you as their experts give fun facts to the crowd. These shows will be held in Raptor Hollow's Amphitheater at 12:30pm & 3:00pm September 16 and 17.
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Activities
Bingo Butterfly Hunt
Plink-O
Bubbles
Washable Tattoos
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Duck Race
Photo Tent
Capture precious moments and spread your wings like a real butterfly with our butterfly wing cut outs!
Book Signing
The local author of Bella's Beautiful Miracle, A Caterpillar's Journey, returns and will host a book signing during the celebration. Her book and companion, coloring and activity book, can be purchased here
Folk Artist Rich and Kathy Small
Enjoy folk music all day long by local artists at the release. Rich and Kathy use traditional folk instruments and bring a fun atmosphere with their unique sound.
Small Creature, Big Journey
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Each fall, millions of monarch butterflies leave their summer breeding grounds in the northeastern U.S. and Canada and travel upwards of 3,000 miles to reach overwintering grounds in southwestern Mexico.
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The monarch is the only butterfly known to make a two-way migration as birds do.
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Decreasing day length and temperatures, along with aging milkweed and nectar sources trigger the migration.
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Unlike summer monarch generations that live for two to six weeks as adults, adults in the migratory (fourth) generation can live for up to nine months.
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Monarchs rely on instincts to know where they need to migrate to, but scientists are still unsure which instinct the butterflies rely on. Some possibilities are celestial cues (the sun, moon, or stars), earth’s magnetic field, landmarks (mountain ranges or bodies of water), polarized light, infra-red energy perception, or some combination of these cues. Of these, the first two are considered to be the most likely cues that monarchs use to navigate.
If the monarch lives in the Eastern states, usually east of the Rocky Mountains, it will migrate to Mexico and hibernate in oyamel fir trees. If the monarch butterfly lives west of the Rocky Mountains, then it will hibernate in and around Pacific Grove, California in eucalyptus trees.