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Contents:

1) Welcome!

2) Back from Mexico! (Adopt-a-Classroom Update)

3) Catastrophic Monarch Mortality at Overwintering Sites

4) Tag Recoveries and the Tag Recovery Fund

5) Taggers Wanted for Fall 2002

6) Gulliver's Gift Shop

7) Puzzle Winner

8) How to Unsubscribe from this Update

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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

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2) Back from Mexico! (Adopt-a-Classroom Update)

Wow, what a trip! We delivered over 4.5 tons of textbooks and materials AND took over 1,000 digital photos at the schools and at the overwintering sites. We're working hard to post our experiences and photos online to share with you - this "journal" of sorts will be completed as soon as possible. In the meantime, please take a look at what we've posted so far at

http://www.MonarchWatch.org/aac/2002

and be sure to check back often for updates!

The Adopt-a-Classroom Annual Report is being printed and will be mailed to 2001 members within the next two weeks; at that time it will be posted online as well.

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3) Catastrophic Monarch Mortality at Overwintering Sites

The temperature was warm and it didn't seem that snow would follow the rains as it often does in the mountains, but it did. According to an email received from Dave Kust and posted to Dplex-L*, the rains turned to snow resulting in 5 cm of snow at Chincua and 10 cm in El Rosario on the evening of the 12th. The snow seldom kills large numbers of butterflies but evidently the skies cleared on Sunday (13th) evening and the temperatures dropped into the mid to low 20s. Dave called on Friday afternoon (18th) to say that half or more of the butterflies were on the ground and that it had been this way since Monday even though the temperatures had increased. This communication was also posted to Dplex. Clearly, there has been significant mortality at the overwintering sites but it is not possible to determine how serious this situation is at this point. We are waiting on some on-site reporting and when this information becomes available, we will post it online and provide a summary in the next email update.

*More information on Dplex-L is available at

http://www.MonarchWatch.org/dplex

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4) Tag Recoveries and the Tag Recovery Fund

The tag recoveries for the past season are beginning to accumulate at a rapid rate. We purchased 103 tags from the past season on our recent trip to the monarch reserves and in the past two weeks Dave Kust has purchased more than 200 tags (about $1,000.00) on our behalf. Several reports indicate that there are many more tags to be purchased. Our resources for purchasing tags are limited. Last year, a year in which there were relatively few recoveries, $3,790.00 in donations to the Tag Recovery Fund exceeded our expenditures, leaving $345.00 dollars to spend on this year's tags. For the year 2001, contributions totaled $2,632.63 giving us $2,977.63 to work with this season and so far we have spent $1,515.00. The balance of $1,462.63 for the remainder of the season will allow us to purchase 292 additional tags.

It is hard to predict the number of tags that will be recovered but the rate at which we are hearing of new tags suggests that recoveries this year will exceed the all time high of 689 tags recovered in 1999. We might even hit 1,000 tags, and this would present a problem for us since it far exceeds our present allotment. If we recover 1,000 tags, we would need an additional $2,025.00 to cover the cost. 

If we do not receive sufficient funds, the money for the tags must be taken from our general operating fund. This takes away from other aspects of our program; therefore, contributions to the Tag Recovery Fund would be greatly appreciated. Donations to this fund can be directed to:

Monarch Watch
1200 Sunnyside Avenue
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045

Donations can also be accepted by credit card by calling 1-888-TAGGING. Thanks for your help!

The 2001 season recoveries of tagged monarchs within in the United States and Canada can be found at

http://www.MonarchWatch.org/tagmig/2001_recoveries.html

Mexico recovery data will be added and updated in the coming weeks.

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5) Taggers Wanted for Fall 2002

We know where the migration begins and ends, but we do not know how the monarchs accomplish this amazing migration. How do the monarchs move across the continent, i.e., do they move in specific directions or take certain pathways? How is the migration influenced by weather and are there differences in the migration from year to year?

Monarch Watch wants to enlist the help of volunteers located throughout the eastern range of the monarchs to participate in our tagging program, a large-scale mark and recapture effort, in order to help answer these questions.

We have run out of tags the last two seasons, but we cannot afford to process more than the 250,000 tags we distribute each fall. So, in order to guarantee that you will receive the number of tags you want, we need you to place your orders before May 31, 2002. Orders received after that date will be filled in the order that they are received so there is a chance that we will not have tags available for last minute requests.

Head on over to Gulliver's Gift Shop and order your 2002 Tagging Membership and additional tags today! You may also download an order form from http://www.monarchwatch.org/order

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6) Gulliver's Gift Shop

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and if you need a gift for that certain someone, please consider getting that present at Gulliver’s Gift Shop. We are always adding new items, and for Valentine’s Day we’ve beefed up our Audio Visual and Book aisles. If your valentine is an expert or beginner you can find something for them in Gulliver’s Gift Shop.

We have The Butterflies of North America: A Natural History and Field Guide CD-ROM by Dr. James A. Scott. This monumental work covers all NA butterfly species and 679 species are illustrated with over 4,500 beautiful full-color photographs with many photographs illustrating the various life forms in natural habitat. With hundreds of field maps, figures illustrating stages and parts, extensive discussion of everything from evolution to host plants, this CD-ROM contains more information than it may be possible to include in a single book. Plus, it contains video footage, enchanting music, full text search capability, and much more. This is a great gift for experts, students, or the general nature fan. We’ve been able to get special pricing for Valentine’s Day and can offer this wonderful tool for just $40.99, $5 off of the suggested retail price.

We have lots of new videos including Common Butterflies of the Northeast, Common Butterflies of the Southeast, Audubon Society Butterflies for Beginners, and other titles for adults. For kids we now have Eyewitness: Butterflies and Moths.

We’ve added some great books to get kids started watching butterflies. Check out the Peterson: Butterflies Coloring Book, or the DK Handbook – Butterflies and Moths, Eyewitness Jr.: Butterflies, or Young Naturalists Pop-up: Butterflies. All of these titles are top notch and will help kids develop a life-long love of butterflies and nature.

Each purchase helps support Monarch Watch's research and educational efforts. Threre is a link to Gulliver's Gift Shop on our homepage at:

http://www.MonarchWatch.org

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7) Puzzle Winner

Thanks to everyone that sent in entries for the Word Puzzle mentioned in the December Email Update:

http://www.monarchwatch.org/update/2001/1203.html

Several people spotted more monarch / Monarch Watch related words than we intentionally put in the puzzle! It was close, but after "weeding out" the words that weren't monarch related (reviewed by a panel of "judges") a single entry emerged with sixty-five words and/or phrases.

The winning entrant will be notified by email and will receive the Monarch Watch poster of their choice. Thanks again and if you'd like to see other puzzles and/or contests added to our site please let us know!

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8) 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

Listproc@ku.edu

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