It is the middle of the migration peak, and we’ll be outside trying to catch and tag butterflies Saturday afternoon. All are welcome to watch/spot and help. Parents: be aware that while we often catch something, it won’t necessarily happen quickly. In most cases, seems best for kids to play or do other activities while keeping an eye out for Monarchs.
I am no expert, but can point you to lots of information here. To answer some FAQs:
-The Monarchs are en route to Mexico. They fly as far as 3000 miles during lifespan.
-Monarchs are an endangered species and this type of monitoring helps measure the health of the overall migration.
-Monarchs visit Concord Village because we have many native plants they visit for nectar (food), as well as milkweed — the sole Monarch host plant. Female Monarchs lay eggs on milkweed only (any caterpillar found on milkweed is a Monarch).
We plan to tag and release 13 Monarch butterflies from the garden tomorrow. All are welcome to watch — and we’d love help taking photos and video! See pics from a previous release here.
Or another species all together? At first glance, I dismissed it as a plain old cabbage white, but looking closely I realized it was more colorful (esp when it spread its wings and blue, exposing a pretty baby blue color.) Unfortmately that happened off camera…Research suggests this is likely a Spring Azure, I will keep reading…UPDATE: This appears to be a male Eastern-Tailed Blue Butterfly.
After only about 11 days in chrysalis, our Monarch butterfly emerged!
His name is Leif.
Kids gathered to watch Mila, who cared for the caterpillar in her home, release the beautiful butterfly after grownups tagged him with coded stickers. The tags are part of Monarch Watch’s citizen science tagging project, which allows people to attach small stickers to Monarchs in order to help scientists study the migration patterns of this at-risk species.
Leif, a male, was marked with code AACB 225, and was released from CV on 08.11.19.
Today Leif embarked on a 6-to-8-week journey, and if the tag is recovered (hopefully in Mexico, the migrating Monarch’s destination) we will know he made it! Or, if he makes it only as far as Texas or another US state, and his tag is recovered, we will learn those details.
To donate, you can leave checks, made out to CVOI, with CVEarthlab in the memo line, at the CV office. Or, you can arrange for a garden member to pick up an envelope from your doorman by sending a note to cvearthlab@gmail.com . We also accept donations via Venmo electronic payment service. To donate via Venmo app, use Shari’s Rueckl’s username: @misssha
Concord Village EarthLab 