Monarch Watch Radio Tagging

This project is an extension of our radio tagging efforts. For complete background information, please see our main Radio Tagged Monarchs page.

2026 FIRST-GENERATION MONARCH RADIO TAG PROJECT

Monarch Watch Director Kristen Baum shares an update on this new project:

After the success of the Blu+ radio tags this past fall, there are many research questions that can be addressed with this new technology, especially related to the spring and fall migrations. Chip previously posted about the timing of when first-generation monarchs stop moving north based on daylength. The basic idea is that they stop moving north when the difference between one day and the next day is less than 1 minute. There has not been an easy way to test this hypothesis until now.

We collaborated with the Oklahoma City Zoo and Dallas Zoo for the first two phases of this project in early May. Chip recruited a colleague to rear first generation monarchs with exposure to natural conditions in Texas. One of my collaborators did the same in Oklahoma. We then radio tagged recently eclosed first-generation monarchs in collaboration with the Oklahoma City Zoo and Dallas Zoo. We tagged additional first-generation monarchs at Monarch Watch in Lawrence, Kansas in late May.

We will continue to update this page as more data become available.

TEXAS FIRST-GENERATION MONARCHS

Radio tagged monarchs in a pollinator garden at the Dallas Zoo.

The progress of the Texas monarchs is shared in the images below. Use the buttons below the map to to cycle through the images.

OKLAHOMA FIRST-GENERATION MONARCHS

Radio tagged monarchs in a pollinator garden at the Oklahoma City Zoo.

The progress of the Oklahoma monarchs is shared in the images below. You will notice that all the highlighted movements occurred before any of the movements reported for the Texas monarchs. Use the buttons below the map to to cycle through the images.