2008 Tagging Kits
Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 11:43 am by JimFiled under Monarch Tagging, Monarch Watch Shop | No Comments »
We are now accepting orders for the 2008 Monarch Watch Tagging Kits. As most longtime taggers know, we have a limited number of monarch tags created each year and demand always exceeds the supply. If you would like to participate ...
Pismo Beach Monarch Grove
Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 10:46 am by Monarch WatchFiled under Western Monarchs | No Comments »
From time to time (usually during the monarch overwintering period) we receive information about the western monarch population - here is a recent communication regarding the operations at the Pismo Beach Monarch Grove in California. We have 40 active State Park ...
New Tree Nursery Near Cerro Pelon
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 7:41 am by Monarch WatchFiled under Mexico | 2 Comments »
The monarch colonies in Mexico are scattered over a number of distinct mountains. Among these is Cerro Pelon, a mountain near Zitácuaro that harbors 1-3 relatively small monarch colonies each year. Although it ranks as the third most important monarch ...
“Monarch River” at Cerro Pelon
Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 8:26 pm by Monarch WatchFiled under Mexico, Monarch Migration | 8 Comments »
Last October, our tagging program was featured in an ABC World News segment ("A Nation on Monarch Watch"). This segment utilized some of my footage (shot in March, 2007) of streaming monarchs at Cerro Pelon in central Mexico. To stand ...
2007: Unusual Migration & Hotter Than Normal Fall
Friday, January 18th, 2008 at 8:54 am by Monarch WatchFiled under Monarch Migration | 3 Comments »
Tagging has shown that the timing and pace of the migration is generally quite predictable (see "Peak Migration Dates"). The pace of the migration was normal this year as the butterflies advanced from 50 degrees latitude in the north to ...
Roundup-Ready Crops and Resistant Weeds
Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 2:31 pm by Monarch WatchFiled under Monarch Waystations | No Comments »
One of our justifications for the Monarch Waystation program has been the loss of milkweeds in 100 million acres of row crops* that followed the adoption of Roundup Ready soybeans and corn. In June of 2004 I wrote “Effects of ...
1,800 Monarch Waystations and Counting
Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 2:01 pm by Monarch WatchFiled under Monarch Waystations | 5 Comments »
The number of certified Monarch Waystations continues to grow. In 2007, we added nearly 800 habitats to the registry and the total number of registered Monarch Waystations to date is 1,835. We hope to add another 1,000 (or more!) habitats ...
New Website for Western Monarchs
Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 1:32 pm by Monarch WatchFiled under Western Monarchs | 4 Comments »
The Ventana Wildlife Society, under the leadership of Jessica Griffith and with the support of Helen Johnson, has created a website for Western Monarchs: ventanaws.org/conservation/monarchs.htm Much of the content of the website focuses on the efforts by the society, with the help ...
2007 Monarch Tagging
Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 10:30 am by Monarch WatchFiled under Monarch Tagging | No Comments »
The number of orders for monarch tagging kits this past fall (1,800+) suggests that more people participated in tagging in 2007 than in any previous year. Moreover, the returned datasheets indicate that the tagging was quite successful overall. Most taggers ...
Monarch Degree Days
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 11:03 pm by Monarch WatchFiled under Degree Days | No Comments »
For the last four years we have been using the accumulated monarch degree days during the breeding season to show how the temperatures relate to the numbers of monarchs each fall. These records were particularly useful in explaining the low ...