Big Muddy Speaker Series presents:
ButterBike Expedition - Understanding the Monarch Migration
Join us for a special presentation with a very special woman. Sara Dykman has spent the year biking the migration path of monarch butterflies, 11,000 miles from the mountains of Mexico to the lakes of Canada and back. She is now on her way back south and is making a stop in Kansas City to share her insights with us.
Folks are invited to come learn about the great migration, hear stories from the road, check out her bike set up, and learn how they can be part of the migration too.
Monarchs in Michoacan hit the air after a winter of hunkering down in the oyamel fir forests. photo by Sara Dykman, Beyond A Book Expeditions.
The goal of Butterbike is to connect folks to the migration and encourage everyone living with the monarch to share their yards and provide habitat for the yearly visitors. By planting native plants for the adults to nectar on and milkweed plants for the caterpillars, the monarch is a wonderful way to link our lives to nature, science, and conservation. The monarch migration has suffered dramatic declines in recent years and a national effort is underway to maintain populations and give future generations the opportunity to see the monarchs and marvel at their amazing journey.
Besides presentations to schools and the general public, Sara is also writing a blog, posting photos, and making fun, educational (and recently award-winning!) videos. She continues to be inspired by the diversity of the planet and the passion of folks working to protect it.
Learn more about ButterBike at www.beyondabook.org. Follow Sara on Facebook @beyondabook
The map showing Sara Dykman's route following the monarch butterfly migration by bike.
This drawing was done for our presentation by artist George Martin
Meet Your Presenter
Sara Dykman
, Beyond A Book Expeditions
Sara divides her time between working seasonal amphibian and reptile jobs, teaching outdoor education, and going on adventures. She created Beyond A Book, to act as an umbrella to include all her education-linked adventures, which besides Butterbike include a source to sea canoe trip on the Missouri and Mississippi River and a 49 state bicycle tour. She has also biked from Bolivia to Texas, and walked from Mexico to Canada. Originally from Kansas City, she is inspired by the ever growing community of Missouri River and wildlife (including monarchs!) supporters and enthusiasts.
Related Presentations
Resources & Links
Resources & Links
Dig deeper for more info on this topic -
- Check out Sara's last presentation at the Big Muddy Speaker Series, including video! "On the River, Learning from the River: Discovering the Missouri by Canoe"
- Beyond A Book - Photos, blogs, videos, and more covering Butterbike and Sara's other education-linked adventures
- Missourian For Monarchs - Local efforts to protect the monarch butterfly
- Monarch Lab - A comprehensive site that includes information on monarch biology, research, conservation and education. Monarch Lab oversees the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project
- Monarch Watch - A one stop shop for all things monarch: education, conservation and research. Monarch Watch runs the Monarch Watch Tagging Program.
- Journey North - This is the place to go to understand the migration patterns of monarchs and other wildlife species. Journey North collects your monarch observations.
- Monarch Joint Venture - Here is a collaboration of many monarch projects and programs working together to coordinate efforts to protect the monarch migration in the United States.
- Monarch Butterfly Fund - A trilateral partnership project with up to date news and information from Mexico to Canada.
- ARTICLE - "She’s making a 10,000-mile bike trip — with millions of monarch butterflies" - by Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, May 4, 2017
The Big Muddy Speakers Series in Kansas City
is hosted by these wonderful partners!
- Little Blue River Watershed Coalition
- Friends of Lakeside Nature Center
- Missouri River Relief
- Healthy Rivers Partnership
- Kansas City Digital Video
- Lights On - KCK
Thanks to all of our venue hosts for making this possible! Click here for a list of upcoming presentations» The Big Muddy Speaker Series is also held monthly in Rocheport and St. Charles.
Recordings of Presentations
Kansas City Digital Video has been recording Big Muddy Speaker Series presentations. These are available on their website at this link. Some contain synchronized powerpoint presentations. We will be posting these to the archived presentation pages on bigmuddyspeakers.org. Thanks Micheal Morgan and crew for putting this important archive online!
Upcoming Presentations
Missouri River Relief: 25 Years on the Big Muddy
November 10, 2026Columbia, MO
Join us for a journey through time celebrating 25 years of Missouri River Relief's work on the Big Muddy.
See Event
Plastic Pollution, Gulf Hypoxia, and Water Quality
November 11, 2026St Charles, MO
Jennifer Wendt from MidAmerica Clean Future guides us through understanding regional water quality challenges.
See Event