On Saturday, September 20 several people enjoyed a monarch butterfly tagging program designed to educate families about the monarch butterfly and create interest in conservation issues.

The tagging program was offered to educate individuals and families about the monarch butterfly and to create interest in conservation issues affecting the survival of the monarch and its magnificent annual fall migration.

Participants tagged and released 75 monarchs that were reared from eggs or caterpillars to adults. Those raised from eggs were collected from milkweed plants in a breeding cage. The caterpillars raised were harvested from garden milkweed.

Tags were purchased from Monarch Watch of the University of Kansas to assist with monitoring the monarch population and education. Monarch Watch is a group of students, teachers, volunteers, and researchers cooperatively working together to study the monarch butterfly, further the public and policy makers on all factors which affect the monarch population, promote conservation of the monarch and habitat critical to their survival. Tags are small white stickers placed on the insect’s hind wing. Each tag bares the name “Monarch Watch,” the organization’s phone number, and an individual identification number. 2008 is Monarch Watch’s seventeenth fall season of monarch tagging.

Individuals making recoveries either return the dead tagged monarch, just the tag, or tag code to Monarch Watch. Their efforts are made to collect data on location, date, and circumstances of recovery. Then the tag database is searched. The recovery information is available as soon as it is entered and both the individual who tagged the butterfly and the person who recovered the tag can view that information online. Recovery data is posted on their website www.monarch.org. Look next summer under 2008 Season Tag Recoveries for tag codes LHH 875 through LHH 924 and LLY 875 through LLY 899, monarchs tagged and released at the Ney Nature Center this season.