==========================================
Contents:
1) Welcome!
2) SPAM - oops!
3) Mexican President's Speech Translated
6) Overwintering Monarch Population Size
10) How to Unsubscribe from this Update
==========================================
1) Welcome to Monarch Watch's Update List!
You are receiving this email because you have provided Monarch Watch with your email address at some point and expressed interest in receiving updates from us. If you do not wish to receive these periodic (probably monthly) email updates or feel that you were subscribed in error, please see the unsubscribe information at the end of this message.
Have you somehow missed (or misplaced ;-) an update? Now you can find all of the updates archived online at
http://www.MonarchWatch.org/update
If you know someone that you think might be interested in receiving these email updates from Monarch Watch with monarch news, special announcements, tips on raising monarchs in your classroom, monarch tagging information and a whole lot more, please send them on over to
http://www.MonarchWatch.org/signup
to join our new Monarch-Watch-Update email list - it's easy!
Monarch Watch (http://www.MonarchWatch.org) is a not-for-profit educational outreach program based at the University of Kansas. We run a Monarch tagging program and offer Monarch Rearing Kits, Monarch Tagging Kits, and other educational/promotional materials that allow you to actively experience the monarch life cycle and its spectacular fall migration.If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us anytime!
Your friends at Monarch Watch
http://www.MonarchWatch.org
monarch@ku.edu
==========================================
On December 14th an email message with the subject "Monarch Watch Memo" was sent to everyone that had placed an order online via Monarch Watch's "Gulliver's Gift Shop" and provided an email address. The "birdman" email address was used by HomeEarth (whom we partnered with to open our online storefront) and the message *was* authorized by Monarch Watch. However, an explanation as to why the message was sent as well as an "opt-out" statement was inadvertantly forgotten. Some Monarch Watchers viewed this as SPAM - sorry for the confusion!
==========================================
3) Mexican President's Speech Translated
In a recent speech, Mexican President Vincente Fox devoted his attentions to the broad-based efforts to support preservation of the monarch overwintering sites. The text indicates a strong awareness of the issues and a concerted plan by the Mexican government to address monarch conservation.
Last month we provided a link to the spanish text; the translated text is now online at
http://www.MonarchWatch.org/conserve/fox.html
==========================================
It's that time of year again! We will be out of the office January 1-18 on our annual Adopt-a-Classroom trip to deliver educational materials to the rural schools within the Monarch Reserve. We will not be able to respond to phone calls or emails during this time; however, mail, fax, and online orders will still be processed as usual.
==========================================
The mild weather in November set records in many areas of the eastern U.S. and continued for the first three weeks of December. The result has been an extraordinary number of reports of December monarchs with adults being recorded from as far north as Ontario early in the month to numerous reports of monarchs along the east coast and south. An astonishing number of adults and larvae have been reported from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Perhaps even more interesting is that many observers indicated that the butterflies were headed in a S or SW direction giving the appearance of still being migratory. This continued migration, if it is indeed a migration, is unusual because all monarchs are said to arrive at the overwintering sites by the end of the first week of December. Additionly, some monarch observers have suggested that monarchs still in the U.S. late in the fall season lose their tendency to migrate - perhaps this isn't the case. It would certainly be interesting to learn the fate of these December monarchs, especially since monarchs observed in and around San Antonio, Texas in mid December would be expected to take at least 4 weeks to reach the overwintering sites in Michoacan. Could monarchs still be arriving at the overwintering sites into January? This seems unlikely but what we think we know about monarchs is often shown *not* to be the case.
==========================================
6) Overwintering Monarch Population Size
How many monarchs will overwinter this year? It is still too early to answer this question. The colonies are being measured and assessed by Eligio Garcia and others at this time. In one communication, Eligio speculated that the population this winter might rival the extraordinarily large population of 1996-97 (more than 170 million butterflies) but that was before the butterflies had consolidated into discernable and stable colonies. I don't think the population will be this large and I'll stick with my earlier estimate of 80-100 million until I talk to Eligio and visit the colonies myself during the week of the 7th. Upon our return from Mexico (after the 15th) I will post an update on the condition of the colonies on Dplex-L and in the February edition of this newsletter.
We anticipate a large number of tagged butterflies will be recovered at the overwintering sites this winter. Tagging appeared to have been successful in most parts of the country this past fall and, in contrast to last year, the hardships during the migration appeared to have been minimal with no drought, significant storms, etc. These conditions could result in a higher rate of survival during the migration which in combination with the large monarch population now reported at El Rosario could lead to more tag recoveries by the guides at the sanctuary.
==========================================
The recoveries for the 2001 season are now online at
http://www.MonarchWatch.org/tagmig/2001_recoveries.html
More detailed reports as well as maps will be available in the coming months as data sheets are returned and we receive additional recovery reports. We anticipate receiving many more recoveries this season due to the large migration this past fall.
If you can help us fill in any of the missing data, please let us know!
==========================================
A big THANK YOU goes out to Minds@Work LLC. - the company has recently donated digital storage equipment to Monarch Watch. The "Digital Wallet" will allow us to take many more digital photos at the schools we visit and at the overwintering sites in Mexico without having the need for a computer nearby to download and store the images.
We plan on taking literally 1,000s of photos on this trip (something we definitely couldn't afford to do with traditional film), many of which will be added to the educational offerings on our website. We also have lots of other plans for our images, so stay tuned! A small sample of last year's photos can be viewed at
http://www.MonarchWatch.org/conserve/adopt3.htm
For more information about Minds@Work, visit them online at
==========================================
Last fall the KU Alumni Magazine contacted us and said that they were interested in doing an article on Monarch Watch. Well, that article turned into an 8-page feature and that 8-page feature turned into the cover story - cool!
See it for yourself online at
http://www.kualumni.org/magazine_highlights.html
or
http://www.kualumni.org/magazine_highlights_2001_5_monarch.html
Unfortunately, the online version doesn't contain all of the images that appeared in print, but it's still a well-done feature.
==========================================
10) How to Unsubscribe from this Update
If you would like to be removed from this Monarch Watch Update mailing list, please send an email message to
and include in the body of the message (no other text):
UNSUBSCRIBE MONARCH-WATCH-UPDATE
If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact us anytime.
Thanks!
Monarch Watch
http://www.MonarchWatch.org
monarch@ku.edu
All material on this site © Monarch Watch unless otherwise noted. Terms of use.
Monarch Watch (888) TAGGING - or - (785) 864-4441
monarch@ku.edu