Another when to tag questions

[Andrea]

Jim,

Is it worth my time to tag them here in west central Florida? My latitude is 28.0242.

If you think some butterflies will head off to Mexico to overwinter then I will order some tags (if there are tags left). However if I'm tagging butterflies that will hang around my garden during the winter season (like Dr Seuss' lazy Maisy bird) then the tags should go to someone with well behaved butterflies that are heading to Mexico.

One more thing...if you think I should tag then what is the window for me to tag?

Sorry about all the questions...I just like to be organized!

Andrea

[Jim]

I see from another posting that you have already ordered tags and gotten the link to our "Peak Migration Dates" table at

http://www.monarchwatch.org/tagmig/peak.html

Florida is a bit of a mystery as far as monarchs are concerned so tagging might help give us a better idea of what's going on. We don't have many records from Florida but the tagged monarchs that have been recovered in Mexico were tagged in northern Florida (St Marks). You can see all of the recovery records in our online database at

http://www.monarchwatch.org/tagmig/recoveries.htm

Happy tagging!

[Andrea]

Jim,

I saw a response from Sandy MS 236 to another "when to tag question" regarding lat info and finding your "time to tag". I saw my lat in there and decided to go with it.

I will try to tag at least 50 this time. I tagged 25 last year and they stayed in the yard for a day or two and disappeared.

My cat/egg numbers have plummeted. I have a lot adults in the garden however the eggs are not hatching and instead are going black. August is particularly brutal in central Florida as its very hot and humid. "Feel like" temperatures are 110F.

I finally ordered my waystation plaque.

Andrea.

[jacqueline stearns]

I am located in Mississauga, ON, Canada. 43 Lat.

I am completely new to the monarch things but my children and I currently have 3 chrysalis and 1 almost and 2 more coming in the next couple days, if there is anything I can do to be of assistance in marking them before I release them I would love to help. Let me know. I have read about writing down their hatch date or something like that on their lower underwing in permanent marker but am a bit unsure about that. Would love some information on how to be a help.

[Jim]

I am located in Mississauga, ON, Canada. 43 Lat.

I am completely new to the monarch things but my children and I currently have 3 chrysalis and 1 almost and 2 more coming in the next couple days, if there is anything I can do to be of assistance in marking them before I release them I would love to help. Let me know. I have read about writing down their hatch date or something like that on their lower underwing in permanent marker but am a bit unsure about that. Would love some information on how to be a help.

Complete information about our tagging program is available here:

http://www.monarchwatch.org/tagmig/

At this point, it might be too late to get tags to Canada in time but you can start doing a little research for next season You'll be able to preorder tags for the 2008 season beginning in January (they'll be shipped in late July in time for the migration).

Marking the wings with permanent ink is handy for keeping track of local butterflies, but the data becomes useless as the butterflies travel any significant distance - as any observer won't know it means. Our small, self-adhesive tags include contact info and a unique code so that we can track individual butterflies over a great distance:



We've had 1,000s of recoveries in Mexico of monarchs tagged as far north as southern Canada - some of these butterflies are traveling well over 2,000 miles!

If you have other questions about our tagging program please feel free to post them here or drop us a line anytime (though I can't promise we'll be able to get back to you right away during late summer/fall - things can get pretty hectic around here!)

Jim