Margarete beat me by a day.

This morning I spotted a faded female monarch while walking the dog in western Douglas County, KS (6 miles east of Berryton, KS).

My earliest sighting over the years occurred on the 7th of April – an event that was followed by an April storm that took out the roof of our greenhouse and froze all manner of early bloom or leafyness and no doubt that early monarch.

The extended forecast through the 3rd of May indicates that overnight temperatures will be above normal for 23/24 days. There is no frost in sight and our last frost was on the 9th of March (the mean day of last frost for this area is 15 April). The season is off to an unusual start, one that should benefit monarchs and butterflies in general – at least in eastern KS. We are already seeing numerous butterfly species that originate from TX. Yesterday, the flow of red admirals through this area was quite exceptional. I have already seen more swallowtails than I saw all of last year. We just need about an inch of rain a week to keep things on track…

It is no secret that Monarch Watch founder and director Chip Taylor is passionate about monarchs and Monarch Watch – he is genuinely concerned about the future of the monarch migration and that of our program as well. In honor of Chip we officially launched in 2009 the now annual “Chip in for Monarch Watch” fundraising campaign – a chance for Monarch Watchers, colleagues, friends, and family across the planet to show their support for Chip and the Monarch Watch program he brought to life two decades ago.

Last year’s campaign was a huge success, raising $23,000 via nearly 500 donors – wow!

We encourage you to spend a little time reading through previous donor comments – the connections that are facilitated by monarchs and Monarch Watch are truly extraordinary.

Complete campaign details at: monarchwatch.org/chip

Thank you for your continued support!

“Fly, Fly Butterfly” by Diego H. Pedreros Velásquez

Interest in monarch butterflies has grown over the last 15 years. Websites featuring monarchs are now common. Monarchs are the subject of numerous blog postings and periodically the topic of newspaper and magazine articles as well. This interest has also produced an abundance of books about monarchs directed toward parents who might buy them for their children. The quality of these books varies greatly. Some have great artwork and not much of a story, others have a good premise but poor execution and still others are filled with errors – the most common of which is to refer to a chrysalis as a cocoon.

The intent of authors is usually to tell the story of the monarch to inspire a sense of wonder; rarely do authors connect the story to larger issues such as our stewardship of the planet. Most of these stories don’t touch me. I’m jaded, having worked with literally tens of thousands of monarchs and having lent my heavy hand to telling this story myself. So, my emotional reaction to a new book, “Fly, Fly Butterfly” by Diego H. Pedreros Velásquez was a surprise to me.

Mr. Pedreros has written an account of his family’s – and particularly his daughter AmaRa’s – discovery of monarchs and their annual cycle through visits to the Ellwood Main monarch sanctuary in Goleta, California. The family’s increasing awareness of monarchs and the environment that supports them is driven by AmaRa’s curiosity, with the help of an equally curious and devoted father.

The author uses the monarch as a metaphor for how we should face life and connects the fate of monarchs to how humans affect the planet. Excellent photographs by the author of monarchs and wildlife around Goleta are tastefully presented on more than half the book’s pages. The design, layout and artwork in the book capture the sense of wonder and adventure of learning about new things through the eyes of both the child and her father. It’s clear that this book was a labor of love that involved a large and talented team. Perhaps the book’s most unique feature is that it is bilingual, with all the text printed in both English and Spanish, with other languages soon to follow. The writing is clear and direct and it is easy to read and understand the text in both languages. In this age, as we watch our population become increasingly disconnected from the environment that supports them and when it is so hard to get children outside, it is refreshing to have this example of a child connecting spontaneously to the wonders of the natural world.

The book may be purchased with a donation component, whereby 40% of the $20 purchase price may be designated to go to Monarch Watch or another approved organization. For more information on “Fly, Fly Monarch” please visit www.forlymonarch.com

The shuttle Endeavour returned our monarchs to Earth on the 21st of February and from there the monarch habitat was shipped to BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado in Boulder – the specialists who coordinate biologically based science experiments for NASA and with whom we worked to get our monarchs into space. BioServe sent the monarchs back to us on the 4th of March 2010, thus completing a most amazing journey. The entire venture, including our engagement with numerous schools, teacher evaluations of the project, photos, videos, and a summary of what we have learned from this project can be found on our Monarchs in Space page.

The entire adventure gave rise to some curious questions and answers that have parallels with those asked about monarchs all the time. So, the next time someone asks we can truthfully say:

Q: What is the longest distance monarchs have traveled?
A: 40 million miles*

Q: How far have monarchs traveled in one day?
A: 421,371 miles

Q: How fast have monarchs traveled?
A: More than 17,000 miles per hour

Of course, the questions aren’t framed correctly and this is the case for many questions that come from students and the public.

In the classroom the unexpected answer to a poorly worded question can often be used to get students to ask questions that are more incisive and to spark a discussion. Experts will often reframe poorly-worded questions from the public. For example, “How many miles can monarchs cover in one day?”, might become “Assuming you want to know the maximum distance monarchs have been recorded to move from one day to the next, the answer is more than 150 miles.” Or, to provide an answer that is more revealing to the audience, experts may turn the question back on the questioner and ask, “Do you mean by powered flight or do you want to know how far they can advance on weather fronts in a day or two or do you want to know the average speed of flight or average rate of progression of the migration?” The answers to these questions lead to a better understanding of the dynamics of the migration. If you don’t know the answers to these and related questions, you might refer to the Monarch Watch Press Briefings. These questions often turn up in press interviews and we’ve summarized the answers in this text.

So, will there be another Monarchs in Space project?” We don’t know – but wow, this sure was fun! We do have plans to recreate this project here on Earth and will soon have monarch kits designed to allow students to follow the development of monarch larvae in their classrooms and to compare their results with those established for monarchs aboard the International Space Station. Stay tuned!

* The three monarchs left the Earth on 16 November 2009 at 1:28p EST and returned approximately 2337 hours later, on 21 February 2010 at 10:20p EST. At an average speed of 17,210 mph that would make the Lawrence-to-Lawrence journey approximately 40.2 million miles. The Lawrence to Florida and Florida to Colorado to Lawrence portion of the trip doesn’t add much to the overall total.

Last month we launched our Monarchs in Space project and as many of you know, it came together in a very short time. We began working with BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado in April – they were interested in determining if it was possible to send monarchs into space. We provided them with caterpillars and various versions of our constantly evolving artificial diet over the months and in mid October they informed us that they wanted monarch caterpillars to send to the International Space Station on the shuttle Atlantis due to launch on the 16th of November. Wow – this didn’t give us much time!

We immediately thought of getting schools involved in this unique educational opportunity, but due to numerous meetings and other commitments we weren’t able to really focus on this possibility until late October. Early in November, BioServe said they could provide rearing chambers to 20 schools if we could come up with the names and addresses of those willing to participate. Late in the afternoon of the 4th of November, we sent an message out to our email subscriber list asking for willing participants and posted our request in a blog entry as well. We had over 200 responses in the first 2 hours and nearly 900 responses by the deadline two days later. We had an interesting problem – there were too many people interested in these kits!

Several questions had to be answered. Could we come up with an alternate plan? Could we instruct people how to make their own monarch habitats? Could we produce enough caterpillars of the right age to ship to participants in time for the shuttle launch? We struggled with these issues, but eventually came up with “Monarchs in Space, Plan B” and announced this alternative late on Friday the 6th – just 10 days before the scheduled shuttle launch. As the responses rolled in we sprang into action, making diet, isolating caterpillars, assembling supplies, preparing instructions, and processing orders. We called in all of our students and volunteers and asked friends and family for help as well. The next six days were hectic and involved long hours, but on the 11th and 12th we managed to ship out 425 packages containing 570 kits and distribute another 30 kits locally.

The project has now come to a close and we have asked participants to help us evaluate this program via a brief online survey so that we can improve the kits and instructions as we develop new projects for 2010 and beyond. We know we missed a few things. In retrospect, we should have realized that this time of year many classrooms are cold relative to what monarchs need and that many would find it difficult to maintain the habitats at the recommended 75F to match the conditions on the International Space Station. We also should have provided more guidance on how to use the diet – sparingly at first and then added as needed by the growing caterpillars.

Overall, the Monarchs in Space project has been a great success. The results of the project, including those of the survey will be posted on the Monarchs in Space page soon. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do so – we’ve posted lots of photos, videos, and links you may enjoy.

We need to have you commit to this program by 5PM central on Friday afternoon (November 6th) – sorry for the short notice!

BACKGROUND
The next Space Shuttle launch is scheduled for November 16th (Mission STS-129). Atlantis will carry three 4th instar monarch caterpillars to the International Space Station (ISS) in a small rearing chamber. This chamber will be placed in an incubator aboard the ISS where the developing monarchs will be monitored. Still and video cameras will continually capture images, which will be made available online.

We have prepared a text that outlines normal development of monarchs from the fourth instar until emergence as adults. This detailed text is written for adults and contains an extensive glossary. It is intended to provide the information teachers need to answer student questions and as a guide to the five major challenges monarchs face in the nearly weightless environment of the International Space Station.

PARTICIPATION
If you would like your school or classroom to participate, please contact us at monarch@ku.edu before 5PM central this Friday (November 6th).

Monarch Watch will send a special monarch larva kit containing six 3rd instar caterpillars and artificial diet to participating schools. The monarch kit costs $17.95 and the overnight shipping will be an additional $26 for a total of $43.95. We will also provide instructions for creating a simple rearing chamber that will approximate the conditions of the chamber that will be transported to the ISS – microgravity not included

If you participate in this program you will be able to follow the shuttle mission to the space station and the development of the monarchs in space for at least two weeks.

Background materials, additional instructions, and relevant links will be available via our website – stay tuned to our blog for details.

If you have any questions, please let us know!

As some of you may know, I took an extended vacation in Alaska this summer. While there I kept in touch with my crew, Jim Lovett and Ann Ryan, and though I kept up with some email communications, I let quite a bit slide and didn’t really keep up with Dplex-L (our email discussion list), our blog, our Facebook page, etc. My priorities were catching a few fish, staying away from the bears or any mother moose with babies, and kicking back. It had been a stressful spring with lots of worries about the possible demise of Monarch Watch due to the economic downturn and I was really worn down. I needed to get away from my 7-day-a-week routine and for me Alaska with its beauty and salmon-filled rivers is the place to do it.

All was going well – like the old Billie Holiday tune “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy/Fish are jumpin’…” – until I received a rather cryptic email from Jim on August 1st with the subject “Important Note from Jim & Ann”:

Chip: If you happen to see or hear something that you shouldn’t see or hear (you’ll know when you see or hear it), it would be best to play it as if you didn’t see or hear it. See what we’re saying here?

Thank you.
The Management

Boy, talk about a curious message. Wow!

Clearly, The Management was up to something but I didn’t know what. But, I really didn’t need a lot incentive to ignore emails and this message seemed to suggest I should pay even less attention than I had been to Dplex, etc. Eventually it became clear that some sort of fundraising effort was going on in the background but I didn’t know the details. It was also apparent that it had something to do with my birthday. That’s all I knew.

Fast forward to the end of August. Friday morning, my birthday, was normal in the lab and all the students and Jim & Ann were busy with the usual projects. However, I knew something was up when I returned from lunch to find the main room in the lab cleaned up a bit. Still nothing happened until Ann poked her head in my office at 4:15 and asked:

“What are you doing for the next 45 minutes?” “Answering emails I guess” was my response. “Good” said Ann. “Stay in your office. You can’t come out until we come and get you.” “Ok”, I said meekly.

So, I got busy with the unending stream of emails and waited for the knock on the door – which came nearly an hour later.

I walked out of my office and into a party – a surprise birthday party attended by many of my friends and local Monarch Watch supporters as well as Jim and Ann and the “Critter Crew” – our student support staff. Outstanding! There were lots of folks and great food in abundance! Jim set up a camera and the party was streamed live – I hope many of you got to see it. Jim also arranged for various people to connect with the party live via SKYPE video. The first to connect was my daughter Wendy and her two children, Jackson and Reesey, both of whom extended wonderful birthday greetings. We also connected with Carole Jordan, Jim Gagnon, and Janis Lentz – all long-time monarch supporters and with Paty Betancourt and her students from Piedras Negras (across the border in Mexico from Eagle Pass). Paty and her students, accompanied by a student in the ecology club on the guitar, sang “Las Mañanitas” (a traditional Mexican birthday song) to me. It was a great surprise and delight.

At some point candles were lit on a cake and I blew them out but I’m not sure whether this was before or after the biggest surprise of all. With some ceremony and finally with an explanation of what he and Ann had been up to with the “Chip in for Monarch Watch” campaign, Jim presented me with one of those big, sweepstakes-sized checks for over $15,000 – amazing!

I had expected a modest fundraising effort and outcome but I was floored by this amount. Jim told me there were over 300 contributors – 300 “Friends of Monarch Watch” who felt that what we did was worthwhile and worthy of their support. At this point I was doing my best to keep from getting choked up and I still am. The comments many of you made about how Monarch Watch has helped you connect with monarchs, plants, pollinators, and the community of great people who share your interest in monarchs has touched me deeply. I greatly appreciate your support and thoughtfulness – and your extraordinary commitment to monarch conservation.

If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to spend a little time reading through the comments and browsing the photos at monarchwatch.org/chip

I want to thank all of you who have contributed to this fund. With this support we will keep Monarch Watch going. It is gratifying to know that there are other people out there who care – no only about monarchs but about all in the world that sustains us. You are great, all of you – thank you, thank you.

My special thanks to Jim Lovett and Ann Ryan, who made all this happen, to Ina Warren for her useful suggestions and frequent nudges, and to everyone that brought food and drink to the party – Jackie, Dale, Rosemary, Larry, Margarete, Mary, Alicia, Ann, Sarah, and Emily.

[ NOTE FROM JIM: We've had a tremendous response to this campaign and continue to receive contributions and comments - the connections that are facilitated by monarchs and Monarch Watch are extraordinary - so we have extended it through the end of September to make sure everyone that wants to participate has the opportunity. If you have any questions about this please let me know. ]

Do you or someone you know use Gerber’s “2nd Foods” Baby Food packs – the larger, 3.5-ounce containers? Here’s what they look like on the shelf at your grocery store and removed from the package:

If you have access to a supply of these empty containers, consider sending them to us (please rinse them first!) for reuse as monarch rearing chambers:

I don’t think Gerber had monarchs in mind when they introduced these containers, but they work quite well and save us a lot of time compared to other methods we’ve used.

We raise thousands of caterpillars each year so we can use a TON of these – please start saving these empty containers and lids for Monarch Watch and once you have a number of them (shouldn’t take long!) please contact us at monarch@ku.edu for mailing/shipping instructions. If you can coordinate a collection from several sources to send in a single package, all the better. Thank You!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

ADDENDUM: It seems lots of folks are curious as to the mystery substance in the containers with the larvae (in addition to the frass). It is, indeed, an artificial diet of our own design. Since Monarch Watch was founded back in 1992, we have shipped hundreds of thousands of caterpillars on an artificial diet to schools an individuals as a part of our Monarch Rearing Kits. Our diet is not available at this time, but may be in the future – stay tuned!

Spring has sprung, summer is fading, and the spectacular fall monarch migration will soon be upon us…

August also marks another lesser-known yet still noteworthy annual event – the birthday of the father, so to speak, of Monarch Watch. Some introduce him as Dr. Orley R. Taylor, Professor Taylor, the Honeybee Guy, the Monarch Man, or the Director of Monarch Watch…but most of us know him as “Chip.”

In response to our “Future of Monarch Watch” article posted earlier this year (monarchwatch.org/future), several long-time Monarch Watchers have suggested a fundraising campaign in honor of Chip and it seems fitting to run it up to his birthday, which happens to be at the end of this month.

Not only does Chip draw no salary from Monarch Watch, he has also been the single largest financial contributor to the program over its eighteen year history. It is no secret that Chip is passionate about monarchs and Monarch Watch – he is genuinely concerned about the future of the monarch migration and that of our program as well.

So, in honor of Chip we’re officially launching the “Chip in for Monarch Watch” fundraising campaign for the month of August – a chance for Monarch Watchers, colleagues, friends, and family across the planet to show their support for Chip and the Monarch Watch program he brought to life nearly two decades ago.

“In 1992 I had no idea how this small project would change my life nor did I envision Monarch Watch as it is today. It’s fair to say that Monarch Watch continues to lead me into new areas of public education and lines of research I hadn’t anticipated. Each year brings new adventures and connections that seem to arise simply because Monarch Watch exists.” – Chip Taylor

1. Send an email to Jim at JLOVETT@KU.EDU and type “Chip in for Monarch Watch” in the subject line – in this email message please include the following:

• Your name (or that of an organization)
• Your pledge amount ($1, $10, $100 or more – any amount will be greatly appreciated)
• A personal note for Chip (could be a sentence, a paragraph, or a letter; photos are welcome too!)
• Your name as you would like it to appear online (full name, first name(s), initials, organization, or anonymous is fine)

If you would like to make the donation anonymously please note that but include your name so that we can match it with your gift.

2. Make your fully tax-deductible donation to Monarch Watch via any of the methods listed below. All donations will be processed by the KU Endowment Association – however you donate, please make sure the gift is directed to Monarch Watch.

• Securely Online: Give Now in Support of Monarch Watch
• By Phone: 800-444-4201 or 888-653-6111 toll-free
• By Mail: please make checks payable to Monarch Watch and mail to

Gift Processing Department
KU Endowment
P.O. Box 928
Lawrence, KS 66044-0928

Additionally, to make a donation or ask questions about gift options, gift planning, endowed funds, employer matching programs, etc. you may contact:

Burke Beeler, Director of Donor Relations
bbeeler@kuendowment.org
785-832-7443
800-444-4201 or 888-653-6111 toll-free

3. We will then assemble a donor list, the notes, and/or photos into a big birthday card and present them to Chip at the end of the month. We’ll also post updates, photos, etc. at monarchwatch.org/chip and may even broadcast live video as well.

Please spread the word to other monarch enthusiasts you know – it has also been suggested that donations could be collected from several individuals (friends, family, co-workers, club members, etc.) and then submitted as a single donation by any of the methods listed above.

Donations are accepted at anytime throughout the year, but if you would like to be included in this special “Chip in for Monarch Watch” campaign, please complete your contribution by August 28, 2009.

If you have any questions please feel free to drop us a line anytime – thank you for your continued support!

Oh, and Chip doesn’t know about this little venture so let’s try to keep it a secret!

Don’t forget to check out monarchwatch.org/chip for donor updates, comments, photos, video and more!

Check out our official “fan” page at

facebook.com/monarchwatch

and help promote our program by becoming a fan – we have 559 Facebook Fans so far and counting!

Becoming a fan is simple – just log in to your Facebook account (or create one, it’s free), visit us at facebook.com/monarchwatch and click the “Become a Fan” graphic near the top of the page…it should look something like this:

You can also click on the “Become a Fan” graphic right here:

Please feel free to pass this info on to friends, family, and other monarch enthusiasts you know – thanks!