PVCC Puma Press: October 2006

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	(Photo courtesy of Boyce Thompson)
	PMonarchs carry a tag containing a number and e-mail address. Tag D0978 was found in a sanctuary in Southern Mexico
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At 9:30 a.m. on a sunny August Saturday, 34 volunteers gathered in a field of tall sunflowers interspersed with milkweed in Palominas, Arizona. Volunteers wore comfortable clothes and shoes that could get wet since the sunflower field contained an artesian well, which made it swampy. They brought butterfly nets, cold drinks, cameras and a desire to be part of the Southwest Monarch Study.

Chris Kline, Boyce Thompson Arboretum educational coordinator, encourages volunteers to come out and learn to tag monarchs. The Southwest Monarch Study is a citizen science program.

Kline’s passion for tagging and tracking monarch butterflies began when he participated in tagging monarchs at an Indiana nature center. When he returned to Arizona, he asked experts where the Arizona monarchs migrated and got mixed responses. This fueled his research instincts. In fall 2003, with a grant of $10,000 and the support of Bill Feldman, director at Boyce Thompson Arboretum, he purchased 10,000 tags to tag monarch butterflies.Volunteers learn to identify and capture monarch butterflies, to safely handle monarchs, to identify their gender and to tag and release them. Kline schools his students in monitoring milkweed patches for monarch caterpillars, which have two sets of antennae and are yellow, white and black striped. He encourages volunteers to keep an eye out for and report tagged monarchs.

Volunteers around the state look for new and monitor existing milkweed patches. Patches exist in Prescott, Flagstaff, Sierra Vista, Palominas, Portal and Phoenix garden areas. Kline asks volunteers to record the GPS location, number of stems, species of milkweed, date checked, number of monarch caterpillars on the milkweed and any adult monarchs present.

Kline says, “We are trying to figure out if they (monarchs) are here in any numbers prior to July.” He says that typically folks no longer see monarchs by late October or early November except for a small group of overwintering monarchs near Parker Dam.

As monarchs are captured for tagging, volunteers record their gender, the monarch’s activity, the GPS location and the number on the light blue adhesive tag affixed to the lower side of the monarch’s hind wing before it is released. Volunteers tagged at least five monarchs at the Palominas training session.

Kline says, “In this research you find more questions than answers.” Records show the Arizona wild, monarch male population of 76 percent is much higher than the 52-60 percent reported in the east. One theory is that females fly higher while males are closer to the ground and easier to catch.

Adriane Grimaldi and her friend, Jasmine Yamasaki attended the Palominas tagging session on Saturday. On Sunday, they ventured off on their own to Canelo where they worked as a team to tag six monarchs while seeing at least 20-30 more.

Grimaldi says, “It’s contagious. We went to Canelo at 1 p.m. and tagged six monarchs by 3 p.m. You have to be slow and gentle to catch the butterfly. Swoop up and gently catch the butterfly. It’s all in the wrist. All of the monarchs in Canelo were males. We deemed the area ‘Monarch Meadow.’ It’s a perfect meadow for monarchs.”

Grimaldi says that after catching the monarch, it fakes death until examination and tagging is complete. When it’s time for release, the monarch comes back to life and flies away.

Grimaldi finds it amazing that monarchs can fly as high as 30,000 feet and as far as 3,000 miles. She says, “Monarchs go to Mexico City even though they have never been there before.”

Kline explains, “In the last three years, we tagged 1,400 monarchs and recovered seven.” On Jan. 22, 2005, Kline received confirmation that one of his monarchs bearing tag D0978 was recovered in El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Overwintering Sanctuary near Angangeo, Michoacan, Mexico. The monarch, a farm-raised male tagged at the Desert Botanical Garden on Oct. 8, 2004 at 2 p.m., migrated a distance of 1,197 miles to the sanctuary.

This significant recovery verified that although monarchs east of the Continental Divide are thought to go to Mexico and those west of the Continental Divide go to California, Arizona monarchs migrate to both California and Mexico.

Another monarch tagged at the Desert Botanical Garden in late October was spotted a week after tagging and photographed 23 miles from the Garden at 111th and Grand Avenues in Youngtown. Two days later, a lady 37 miles from Youngtown in Tonopah reported seeing the same monarch.

Each October, Boyce Thompson Arboretum offers school children the monarch migration tour. Kline says, “This tour goes into the life cycle of the butterfly and into the migration and what it means and how and where they do it. I have a few live monarchs on hand so the older children may get to tag and release the butterfly. Little kids get to tag the paper monarchs that they are given using extra blank tags.”

Individuals can attend a monarch tagging class on Oct. 14 at 10 a.m. at Boyce Thompson Arboretum taught by Chris Kline. To become part of the Southwest Monarch Study, contact Kline at (520) 689-2723 or ckline@ag.arizona.edu.

Monarch and butterfly enthusiasts can attend an easy butterfly walk at Boyce Thompson Arboretum on Oct. 28 from 9:30-11 a.m. led by Adriane Grimaldi. She will share information on the tagging of monarchs, their life cycle and butterfly gardens.

Admission to the Arboretum is adults $7.50, children 5-12 $3 and children under five free. Winter hours are 8 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. The Arboretum’s address is 37615 U. S. Highway 60, Superior, AZ 85273 and is located at milepost 223 on Highway 60. Their Web site is at http://ag.arizona.edu/BTA/.