A Perfect Day for Monarchs

A large crowd was on hand for our September monarch release led by biologist Kristin Siewert.

Monarch’s have the longest migration of any insect and are the only insect with a two-way migration. Monarchs roost in Mexico (those living West of the Rockies  migrate to California) for the winter. In the spring, they migrate north as far as Canada, live in the North for the summer, and then, their offspring make the return trip south.

Participants pretended to be monarch migrating, running past signs reading Mexico, Texas, Iowa, and Canada.

The butterflies arrived from Michigan.

Attendees took turns fitting each butterfly with tags from Monarch Watch.

The tags don’t hurt the butterflies, nor does gentle handling of the wings and body.

Most took off with speed on the warm morning.  But a few didn’t want to leave the nice salty skin of their tagger.

This man had seen butterflies roosting in Mexico but had never held one.

The tags help scientists learn about migration and the most favorable weather conditions for their flights. Less than 1% of all tagged monarch are reported but that isn’t a bad thing. The ones found are often dead or injured.

It was a wonderful morning for humans and monarchs!