The 14th annual Monarch Tagging and Release took place at Dorothy’s House Museum in Garden Hill on Saturday, August 26, 2023.
Don Davis who is executive member of the Port Hope Historical Society that operates Dorothy’s House Museum was on hand once again to organize and help with the tagging.
Davis started his education with monarch butterfly’s in 1967 and continues on conservation, and educational projects to this day.
Davis along with 13-year-old Brogan Austin who has been identifying, tagging and releasing the butterfly’s for a number of years worked at a table throughout the event answering questions and encouraging others to “make a wish” and release the butterfly’s.
The migration takes place every year with butterfly’s making the journey to Mexico.
Davis said he hoped to release 180 butterfly’s during the event that will migrate to Mexico.
One of the “neat” things about butterfly’s is that they have a “unique” life cycle going egg, caterpillar, pupa and then butterfly.
“Monarch’s a particularly special because of the long distance they fly in the Fall. Ordinarily a monarch only lives about 30-days but the migrants will last about nine months getting down to Mexico then migrating back to the southern United States.”
Why they did it is a mystery.
“That’s their life cycle. The migration may have developed over time.”
With the loss of milkweed and climate change, Davis said people should be concerned about the monarch butterfly.
“It’s possible in 50-years we may not have a migration.”
Davis has visited Mexico and been among the millions of monarch butterfly’s, is “quite an experience.”
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
