Be a citizen scientist: Monarch Butterfly tagging | Blog

September 12, 2016

Be a Citizen Scientist

Our family happened upon butterfly tagging while visiting the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center in Fergus Falls, MN four years ago. We've been tagging butterflies ever since. It's an activity appropriate for children 8 and up- younger if they can be gentle with the butterflies.
Tagging butterflies means catching a Monarch with a net, carefully discerning whether the butterfly is male or female, placing a a numbered sticker over the outside discal cell and recording the data before releasing it back to the garden.

Monarch males have an enlarged pouch on the hingwing on a vein directly below the discal cell. The discal cell is easily identified as it looks like a mitten.

This butterfly is released with it's numbered tag on the outside of one hind wing.

During the winter months, the Monarch Watch organization purchases recovered tags from local community members in the overwintering areas. The data is used to test hypotheses concerning monarch navigation and migration. It is also used to determine mortality rates and population figures.

Any one can tag Monarch butterflies for the Monarch Watch. The tagging season in Minnesota is nearly over for the 2016 fall migration, but if you would like more information for next season please email me at jenn@fleurdelouise.com and I'll send a note at the appropriate time in July 2017, or see the Monarch Watch website.

A National Geographic photographer took this photo just minutes after Dr. Fred Urquhart found the tagged Monarch PS397 on the ground among the millions of butterflies in 1976. The little white tag can be seen just below the fingers of his left hand.

On May 6, 1998, Dr. Fred and Norah Urquhart were jointly appointed to the Order of Canada. They are credited with one of the greatest natural history discoveries of our time. (www.flightofthebutterflies.com)

Monarch Watch is a nonprofit education, conservation and research program based at the university of Kansas that focuses on the monarch butterfly, its habitat and its spectacular fall migration.

www.MonarchWatch.org