VOLUNTEERS SUCH AS JACK AVENT

OF RALEIGH (FAR LEFT) ARE HELPING

RESEARCHERS UNDERSTAND THE INCRED-

IBLE FALL MIGRATIONS OF MONARCHS

BY TAGGING AND RELEASING THE BEAU-

TIFUL BUTTERFLIES.

By the end of August, an orange-and-black

tide composed of millions of monarch butterflies

will start rolling south from southern Canada.

The waves will reach North Carolina in mid-September

on their way to the high Mexican Sierra Mountains. From

a summer range of many millions of acres, all of the

100 million or more monarchs that grew to maturity in

the eastern half of North America will attempt to reach

half a dozen or so butterfly congregations in oyamel fir tree

groves that together cover no more than five or six acres.

Those covering the greatest distances may travel more than

3,000 miles, at an average speed of about 10 miles per hour.

And not a single one of these butterflies will ever have been

to the special groves before!

How such tiny animals (the average adult monarch

weighs about 1/60 of an ounce) can navigate such huge dis-

tances with no prior experience fascinates and puzzles many

people. Entomologists at the University of Kansas have estab-

lished Monarch Watch in an effort to learn more about how

monarchs do it, to educate students and adults about monarch

biology and to publicize the need to conserve both the threat-

ened wintering groves and summer habitats essential to the

monarch’s survival. An important component of Monarch

Watch is a highly successful tagging program in which small

adhesive tags are placed on the wings of captured monarchs.

Trained guides in Mexico then search for tagged individuals

in the wintering groves. Last year, about 75,000 monarchs

were tagged, and about 300 were recovered. A tagging pro-

gram can be an excellent class project for students from ele-

mentary age through high school.

The tagging program is also great for adults. “This fall

will be my fourth year tagging monarchs,” explains Jack

Avent, who does most of his butterfly netting at the exten-

sive J.C. Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh. “This place always

has something blooming,” he said. “It’s great fun catching

the butterflies and releasing them.” Jack uses an insect net he

made back in high school and takes particular care to avoid

injuring the monarchs. “I only catch them off the flower—

not in the air. You can catch them real gentle this way.”

Jack looks forward to the day when one of his tagged

monarchs is recovered in Mexico. “They haven’t found

one of my tags yet,” he said. “But I keep hoping.” And he’ll

keep tagging, come fall.

Though migrating monarchs will be moving across

the entire state, the best places to see numbers of them in

North Carolina are gaps on the Blue Ridge Parkway and

other mountain roads, and along the state’s beaches. You

can also plant milkweeds in your yard to help grow more of

these beautiful insects. If you’re interested in participating in

the tagging program or just learning more about monarchs,

visit www.monarchwatch.org, or call (888) TAGGING.

R

August 2002 WINC ◆ 17

DICK DICKENSON

M ONARC H BUT TE RF LIE S FAC E MANY PE RIL S

AS THE Y MAKE AN INC RE DI BLE 3,000 - MILE

S OUTHE RN MIGRAT ION E AC H FALL . N ORTH

C AROLINA VOLUNTE E RS ARE HE L PING TO

UNRAVE L THE M YS TE RIE S OF THIS DE LICATE

C RE AT URE ’ S AMA Z ING JOURNE Y.

WRIT TEN BY CLYDE E . S ORE NS ON

ON GOSSAMER WINGS

JIM

DE

AN

ME

LIS

SA M

cGA

W

JIM

DE

AN