Why only 250,000 tags?

Several members have asked why we only distribute 250, 000 tags each year since the demand for tags seems to exceed this number. The short answer is economics – the tagging program costs at least $60, 000 to run each year and we only recover half this amount from memberships, extra tags, etc. If we increase the number of tags, we lose more money. In other words, the tagging program is not self supporting and to pay for this program we have to sell educational and promotional items and solicit contributions from our members. Monarch Watch is not financially supported by the University, federal grants, foundations or corporations and we only receive $2,000 per year from the state of Kansas. At the beginning of the year we were NEGATIVE $32,000 and we are still recovering from this deficit. Even though the demand for tags might be higher this year (and the years to follow), we simply cannot take on additional costs until our financial situation stabilizes.

Migration Forecast

The leading edge of the migration is expected to progress southward from approximately 39 degrees N on the 10th to 36:50 on the 17th. The migration is expected to peak approximately 10 days after the arrival of the front at each latitude. Of course, these are just predictions based on long term trends and they don’t incorporate the proximate weather conditions and the predictions themselves may need to be refined as additional data becomes available. In fact, the butterflies may be a day or two ahead of these predictions in Kansas and Missouri at this time. In order to help us track the migration and test the basic theory of the migration, please report what you see in your area via the digital Monarch Watch mapping site on KanCRN. Alternatively, you can send your observations to us via email at monarch@ku.edu. Thank you!

Price Increases

Due to the lack of substantial funding and the fact that our overnight shipping costs have nearly tripled without warning we are forced to increase the prices of our educational and promotional items. 🙁 The new pricing will take effect immediately (as soon as we settle on the increase); however, we will continue to accept 2001 order forms through the end of the year. We should have more information for you next month.

Monarch Watch Funding

We don’t want to sound like a broken record, but with all of the new subscribers to this Update List we really need to keep publishing this message. We know there are sources of funding out there and hope that someone receiving this update will “know someone who knows someone” that will be able to match us up with the funding that we need to continue our mission of education, conservation and research.

As many of you now know, Monarch Watch continues to be financially challenged. We are just scraping by and are still searching for corporate or foundation support. Due to a shortfall in income we are attempting to enlarge our base of support through collaborative arrangements with other organizations. Any leads for potential sources of funding you can provide will be greatly appreciated!

2001 Tagging Kits: Going, going…

We are currently shipping the 2001 Tagging Kits and the tags are going fast! We have already received orders for 190,000 of the 250,000 tags available this year. In order to accommodate everyone that wants to participate in the tagging program this fall, we will begin limiting the number of tags per order to 25 – this would consist of a Tagging Membership or Tagging Kit; additional sets of tags will no longer be available.

Why only 250,000 tags? Given our current financial situation (and in turn, our limited staff) we simply do not have the resources to process a larger number of tags at this time.

If you haven’t ordered your tags yet, head on over to www.MonarchWatch.org/order and get them today!

Fall Monarch Population and Migration

Although the number of monarchs at the overwintering sites in Mexico last winter was the lowest yet to be recorded (28.3 million) and the number of females that survived to reproduce this spring in the southern states was quite low, the monarch population appears to have made a remarkable recovery over the last 5 months. Reports from throughout the breeding range indicate the migratory population this fall will be much larger than that of 2000 and it may exceed the population in 1999 and perhaps even the population in 1997. In recent days large numbers of clustered monarchs have been reported from Winnipeg, northern Michigan and west central Wisconsin. The butterflies in Winnipeg should have already begun moving southward and the migration will begin in areas north of 45 degrees in the next week.

If you want to determine the approximate time for the migration to begin in your area, visit

susdesign.com/sunangle/
binary-options-demo.org

Follow the instructions on the site and enter your latitude, date, time (12:01PM), and time zone (for the central time zone use “F” (GMT+6:00)) and time basis (solar). If you don’t know your latitude, go to www.indo.com/distance/ and type in the name of the nearest city. For example, for Winnipeg (49:54 N) the altitude angle for today (17 August) is 53.76 degrees.

Generally, the migration starts close to when the AA reaches 56 degrees and peaks when the AA reaches 52 degrees. Most monarchs leave a particular latitude by the time the AA of the receding fall sun has reached 47 degrees. The interval, or migration window, defined by 56-47 is about 3.5 weeks. For example, in Lawrence, KS the first wave of the migration usually arrives on the 10-11th of September and the peak is near the 20th (AA = 52.39) with all but the last few migrants gone by the 4th of October (AA = 46.95).

Dana Leaving Monarch Watch

If you have had any contact with Monarch Watch over the last 4 years, odds are you know who Dana is (or at least recognize the name ;-). This is Dana’s final week at Monarch Watch as she will be attending her first semester of Veterinary School this fall. Dana’s “formal” farewell will appear in the 2000 Season Summary which will be published later this summer. We’ll all miss Dana but wish her well in her studies.

Monarch Watch Funding

Monarch Watch continues to be financially challenged. We are just scraping by and are still searching for corporate or foundation support. Due to a shortfall in income we are attempting to enlarge our base of support through collaborative arrangements with other organizations. Any leads for potential sources of funding you can provide will be greatly appreciated!

Late Summer Monarchs

Please report all sightings of monarchs seen in August and mid September at latitudes of 38 degrees or less to Monarch Watch. A recent paper by Bill Calvert, personal observations, and numerous previous reports to Dplex-L suggest that reproductive monarchs begin moving south in early August – effectively recolonizing areas devoid of monarchs from mid May to late summer. We need locations and dates of any sightings below 38 degrees (areas south of a “line” from mid KS east to the coast). These data will be used to test a new theory concerning the migration.

Monarch Meeting a Success!

The Monarch Population Dynamics Meeting hosted by Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas from 20-23 May was a great success. We anticipated a meeting with 20 speakers and perhaps 40-50 attendees. Instead, there were 31 speakers (about 11 hours of talks in total), 8 posters (seven of which were presented by students), and a total of 90 attendees.

A detailed account of this meeting will appear in the 2000 Season Summary which will be published later this summer.