Western Garrett County State Park Volunteers, Inc.

Photos from our recent trip to Mexico February 11-19, 2011

Mexico 2011

Monarch Butterfly Trip to MEXICO
February 15 - 19, 2011                 SOLD OUT

Monarch Butterflies!! 

The Monarch butterfly is one of the most interesting butterflies in North America. The Monarch is typically tawny-orange on top and the veins and margins are black. The margins also have white spots. The underside is similar, but is a faded orange. The male has a black patch of androconial scales (looks like a black dot) responsible for dispersing pheromones on the hind wings to attract female's, and the black veins on its wing are narrower than the female’s. The male is also slightly larger. The Monarch has six legs, but only uses four and keeps the other two close to its body. The Monarch lays eggs and feeds on Milkweed. Eggs are typically the size of a pin head. 

When the caterpillar is ready to hatch, it eats its way out of the egg, consumes the egg, and feeds on the Milkweed. The Monarch can be found in a wide range of habitats such as fields, meadows, prairie remnants, urban and suburban parks, gardens, and roadsides. A Monarch caterpillar has a distinct pattern of black, yellow, and white stripes and is smooth. The caterpillar will spend the next few weeks eating the Milkweed until it becomes about the size of a human pinky finger. Once the caterpillar has reached this size it will look for a structure to make a chrysalis; the next phase for the butterfly. The chrysalis is blue-green with a band of black and gold on the end of the abdomen, gold spots on the thorax, the wing bases, and the eyes. After about 12-15 days; typically during the morning hours (9 a.m.- 12 noon), the Monarch will hatch out of the chrysalis. The Monarch will then hang upon its empty chrysalis and pump blood into its wings to expand the wings. The Monarch will spend the next few hours drying the wings out in the sun and heat until it is ready for flight.

Monarch butterflies are poisonous or distasteful to birds and mammals because of the presence of cardiac glycosides that are contained in milkweed consumed by the larva. It is thought that the bright colors of larva and adults function as warning colors. During hibernation monarch butterflies sometimes suffer losses because hungry birds pick through them looking for the butterflies with the least amount of poison, but in the process killing those that they reject.

When the Monarch is ready for its flight, the Discovery Center will tag the butterfly with a sticker that is entered into a database.

The Monarch is tagged because the Monarch's at the Discovery center make a southward migration to sanctuaries of the Mariposa Monarca Biosphere Reserve in the Mexico which are conifer groves. The Monarch's at the Discovery Center are part of the eastern migration of the butterflies.

The western Monarch's migrate south in central coastal and southern California (Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz). The Monarch's all start making their migration at the end of August.

The monarch is the only butterfly that migrates both north and south as the birds do on a regular basis.

The length of the migration exceeds the normal lifespan of most Monarch's, which is less than two months for butterflies born in early summer. The Monarch's at the Discovery Center are the last generation of the summer Monarch's in North America and enter into a non-reproductive phase known as diapause. This means they live seven months or more and generally does not reproduce until it leaves the overwintering site sometime in February and March.

When the Monarch's are ready to migrate back north, they reproduce creating the next generation of Monarch's that will make the trip back north (born in early summer: first generation). The Monarch's that lived over seven months will then die after they have reproduced. These butterflies that have died will have the tags from the Discovery Center. Locals in Mexico, collect the stickers from the Monarch's and get paid $5.00 US to report the sticker, which is then found in the database. The database will then contact the site in which that Monarch is from and tell you the place and miles traveled by the Monarch.

The second and third generations will make its way back to the Discovery Center, where the fourth generation will be born again and live for seven months. The cycle then repeats its self. The Monarch also manages to return to the same overwintering spots over a gap of several generations is still a subject of research; the flight patterns appear to be inherited, based on a combination of the position of the sun in the sky and a time-compensated Sun compass that depends upon a circadian clock that is based in their antennae.

Monarch butterflies are also one of the few insects capable of making trans-Atlantic crossings. They are becoming more common in Bermuda, southwest of Great Britain in years when the wind conditions are right, and have been sighted as far east as Long Bennington. In Australia, Monarchs make limited migrations in cooler areas, but the Blue Tiger butterfly is better known in Australia for its lengthy migration. Monarchs can also be found in New Zealand. On the islands of Hawaii no migrations have been noted.

Adopt a Monarch at the Discovery Center

Adopt a Monarch at the Discovery Center for $25.00. The adoption of a Monarch Butterfly purchases tags for the Discovery Center and participating schools to support our tagging program and plants conifer trees around the fragile over-wintering sites in Mexico through the La Cruz Habitat Protection Project. 

If a butterfly is found in Mexico or along the way, you will receive a certificate from Monarch Watch. If any butterflies are recovered, certificates will be mail by June of the following year.

Your tax deductible contribution can be made payable to the Western Garrett County State Park Volunteers, Inc. Send your Name, Address, Phone, and email if applicable on a piece of paper with your $25.00 check.

Your contribution can also be made by clicking 

Do not forget to check our Nature Store with new clothing, toys, and a great selection of field guides and award-winning children books!  Our popular Got Milkweed t-shirts are available in all sizes!

Monarch Tagging 2010

4 Monarch Tags were Recovered!

Swan Meadow Elementary

Discovery Center

Paradise Ridge in Oakland

Finzel, Maryland

See complete list at www.monarchwatch.org/blog