Florida Monarch Mark and Release In My Back Yard

[moe29]

I posted this to the dplex-l List and got no responses, so i thought i'd post
here to!:

This summer I have been marking the Monarchs I raise and release.
I give the Monarchs released each day an identifying mark on the
discal cell with a Sharpie marker. I then release them into my small
Milkweed patch. Each day I observe the patch to see if I have any
returning butterflies.

Well yesterday I observed a male Monarch the I released on
July 18, 2004! He had been in the wild for 33 days when observed
yesterday. I have observed other males and females coming back
to the patch at different intervals up to 14 days. Yesterday's sighting
was by far a record! I was unable to photograph him in the Milkweed
patch for photographic proof, but did get a shot of him flying. He
teased me for a couple of hours after the first sighting, patrolling
around my yard and my neighbors backyard - but never coming
back to pose for a picture. He was a bit weathered and faded, but
did not have much wing damage at all.

Just thought I'd share my observation with you guys!

Morris - Clearwater, Florida

[Jim]

Hi Morris!

Thanks for sharing your story with us...is this the first year you have done this? How many monarchs have you raised and released this year? How many of your marked monarchs have you seen again?

Are you going to be tagging monarchs later this season as a part of our tagging program? Florida's still a bit of a mystery as far as the monarch migration goes so we can use all of the data from the Southeastern U.S. we can get

[moe29]

Hi Jim,

This is my first year of involvement with Monarchs. I've raised and released about 30 monarchs so far. I started marking them about 20 butterflies ago.

I have only observed male monarchs returning to my Milkweed patch after more than two days. I observed one male 7 days after release. The observation that started this thread really surprised me, i was glad to see one of my releases had been in the wild for 30 plus days!

Of course i'm learning as i go. I now know i have to take better notes and come up with a better marking scheme. This way i can qualify my observations better and be able to give a more coherent report.

Yes, I will be tagging reared monarchs and any wild monarchs I can. I wasn't sure how important it was to tag monarchs here in Florida, since they really don't seem to migrate.

We are lucky in that they seem to be a mostly year round resident, and we don't have to wait months to spot them in our back yards! We are lucky in that respect.

Morris

[JBowers]

Good job! I, too, have just started to tag the Monarchs I raise. Although this year has been VERY disappointing for me! Last year, this date I had raised/released 220 Monarchs!! To date, I have raised 4, tagged 1. But - chin up! My neice, who I have given the "bug" to, has 10 caterpillars and several tiny ones as well as 3 chrysalids. So, my tagging experience should grow.
This is so interesting and rewarding. My mom is 84 years old and "baby-sits" my chrysalids while we travel. Last year, she really enjoyed releasing "HER" butterflys!
Keep flying!

[Katherine]

Hello Morris
I live in Tampa, Florida and have been looking forward to chatting with other Florida members
This is my first year tagging too and I tagged 76. Most of them I reared.
On DEC 19th 2004 I tagged a male monarch on the day he emerged, and Jan 1st 2005 I found him flying around in my garden. I saw him almost every day until the last time on Jan 14th. It's the first time I've seen one of my own tagged butterflies in my back yard. As Jim says Florida's still a bit of a mystery as far as the monarch migration goes.
I'm thinking we need to tag all year to get the Southeastern U.S. story on monarchs.
I now have many monarchs in all stages in my yard right now. I had three come out today. Two males and one female. I would like to mark them to see if they come back, but I already used up all my tags. According to my tagging sheet I should take between August and December. However I, like yourself, have butterflies and caterpillars all year. As long as I provide them with milkweed, and nectar they are there. I'm thinking I would like to tag all year. Only tags are expensive. 200 tags cost $48. I wonder what Jim thinks of your Sharpie marker trick. Of course I agree with you that better notes and comeing up with a better marking scheme would be critical, recording our observations better and be able to give a more coherent reports is important. We really need to get the Southeastern (FL ) people together on this.
I would love to know if we have any Florida monarchs who make the heroic trip to Mexico. Maybe they just go down to the Keys for a margaritta.
Katherine