- Introduction
- Tagging Butterflies
- Learning from Tagging
- How to Tag
- Download
the article as a
Tagging Butterflies
Since he began tagging monarchs in 1999, 18 of his butterflies have been found and reported to Monarch Watch. Most of Cameron’s monarchs made it all the way to El Rosario, Mexico, their largest winter refuge. The farthest one of his monarchs traveled was 1,693 miles.
“It was pretty neat that a monarch you had your hands on actually made it to Mexico,” says Cameron, who has tagged about 1,800 monarchs. “But the down side is it didn’t live to come back.” As monarchs range throughout the United States and Canada in spring and summer, they reproduce, cycling through three or four generations before the last generation migrates to Mexico. If they survive the winter, these monarchs return north in spring to mate and lay eggs, beginning the next generation. (Monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains overwinter in California).
The majority of tags are found on dead monarchs underneath trees in Mexico. Severe but atypical winter storms usually cause most deaths. In winter, monarchs do not hibernate; they are conscious and occasionally active, and may change roosts if conditions require. They roost at elevations close to 11,000 feet, choosing sites that are just above freezing—enough to stay alive, but cool enough to keep them from expending too much energy. They cling to fir trees in such incredible numbers that the branches often sag under their weight.
| top |