Chances are if you can identify one butterfly, it's going to be this guy, the monarch, scientifically known as Danaus plexippus. They're plentiful, and they're's easy to spot, with their bright orange wings and distinctive black veins.

And chances are if you know anything about the monarch, it's the amazing migration it makes every year to the conifer forests in the highlands of central Mexico. Amazing really understates what these bugs do. But there is a bit of mystery to the monarch, particularly in Florida. We're not completely sure what they do here, particularly in South Florida, where food is plentiful and temperatures are always mild. Some live here year round; others might migrate, but if so where do they go? And as famiiar as monarchs are to us, they can be a little tricky to identify.

Some monarch basics: They're found over much of eastern and central United States, including all of Florida, and southern Canada. There's also a Pacific Coast population. Monarch have been found in Australia and Great Britain as well as the Azores and Canary Islands. They're medium to large as butterflies go, with a wingspan ranging between 3.25 inches to nearly five. Monarchs are bright orange above, with dark veins and white spots along the edges of the wing. The key identifying feature are the wide borders that separate the forewings and hindwings.

Adult monarchs vary their diet depending on the time of year and what's available, which makes them valuable as pollinators. When milkweeds are in bloom — which in South Florida means all year — they become the nectar source of choice. Monarch caterpillars, however, are notoriously picky eaters and with a reason. Monarch females lay eggs singly on the leaves of milkweeds only, which the caterpillars will devour, acquiring chemicals called cardiac glycosides, which get stored in their bodies as they mature into adulthood.