Video – Photo Gallery – 17th Annual Monarch Tag and Release in Garden Hill
For citizen scientist Don Davis, tagging monarch butterflies is about more than putting a tiny identification tag on their wings.
It is about helping scientists better understand one of nature’s most remarkable migrations.
Davis hosted the seventh annual Monarch Tag and Release on Saturday, August 22, at Dorothy’s House Museum in Garden Hill, where members of the public had the opportunity to learn about monarch butterflies and their incredible journey south.
The event was sponsored by the Port Hope and District Historical Society.
Davis said this year marks his 17th monarch-tagging season, continuing a project he first became involved with in 1962.
“Today is the 17th monarch tag and release where I’m tagging monarch butterflies that hopefully will reach Mexico and even possibly return in the spring to the southern United States,” Davis said.
The monarchs are fitted with small paper identification tags before being released. If a tagged butterfly is later recovered, the information can provide researchers with valuable information about its migration.
Davis said Garden Hill has been particularly successful over the years, with a number of monarchs tagged locally later being recovered in Mexico.
The familiar paper tags, however, may eventually be joined by newer technology.
Davis said an electronic tagging system is now being developed and used in Ontario, although the technology remains expensive.
“I’m not using it yet. They’re very costly, but that’s exciting,” he said.
An incredible journey
One of the mysteries surrounding monarch butterflies is how they are able to navigate thousands of kilometres to a destination they have never previously visited.
The monarchs emerging in late summer and early fall are different from the generations that preceded them.
Unlike summer monarchs, the fall migrants enter a state known as reproductive diapause, meaning they are not reproductively active.
“They will fly to Mexico and in the spring develop their reproductive capacities, mate, lay eggs, and die,” Davis explained.
The next generation begins the journey north from the southern United States.
During the summer, several generations of monarchs can be produced, with individual butterflies generally living only about 30 days.
The fall migrant generation is different.
Those butterflies can live for up to nine months, allowing them to make the long journey to Mexico and eventually begin the return north.
Davis said the migration can cover approximately 3,500 kilometres.
The trip south can take roughly three months, depending heavily on weather and climate conditions.
How monarchs find their way remains an area of ongoing research.
Davis said scientists believe the butterflies may use a combination of navigational tools, including the sun, Earth’s magnetic field and geographic landmarks.
“They apparently have a compass in their antenna and also in their brain to use the sun as a compass,” he said.
“They may follow the magnetic force field of the earth. They may follow geographic landmarks, mountain ridges, or ranges, rivers.”
“There’s lots to learn yet about how they’re able to do this amazing journey every year and return in Mexico to the same general area for the most part.”
From egg to butterfly
For anyone needing a refresher on the monarch’s life cycle, Davis offered a simple lesson.
The four stages are egg, caterpillar or larva, chrysalis or pupa, and finally the adult butterfly.
The transformation can happen remarkably quickly.
A monarch can go through the complete life cycle in approximately 30 days, although temperature plays an important role.
“If it’s really warm, they develop quicker,” Davis said.
But it is the migration that continues to fascinate Davis after decades of studying and tagging monarchs.
“I think the migration — that this small insect, which isn’t really as frail as we think it is, can travel this long distance,” he said.
For Davis, the annual release is also part of a much longer local tradition.
“There were quite a number of people in Cobourg and Port Hope who supported the program way back in the ’60s when it was formed,” he said.
“I started in 1962 and I’m still tagging monarchs.”
The Monarch Tag and Release event also provided an opportunity for the Port Hope and District Historical Society to promote its work and encourage residents interested in preserving local history to become members or consider serving as directors.
For Davis, however, the butterflies remain the star attraction — tiny creatures beginning a journey that has fascinated scientists and observers for generations.
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