Let Me Introduce Myself !

February 5, 2015

My name is Barbara, but in my social circle I am known as "Monarchmama".

I moved to NW New York State 8 1/2 years ago, and every day is a new learning experience as I get to know the flora and fauna that abounds in this lovely county where I now abide. I was born and raised the next county over in Pennsylvania, only 60 miles west of here where I spent thousands of hours of rambling and roving the natural places of Pennsylvania.  I assumed that the flora and fauna here in Chautauqua County would be the same, so it never ceases to amaze me when I discover a new creature or a new plant that I have never come across before. The motivation for this blog is to document these new discoveries and share them with others.

The reason I have been nick-named  Monarchmama is because I  have been raising Monarch Butterflies for almost 45 years. It is a passion of mine that has never dimmed, and has led me to meet some very interesting people, and get involved in an environmental issue that means a great deal to me. Over the years I have often shared this passion with school children, and with visitors to our local Audubon Nature Center.  I never tire of seeing the joy in the faces of those young and old,  when they get up close and personal with a monarch butterfly, or a monarch caterpillar.

Eventually, raising monarchs for my own pleasure and education, led me to get involved in two different migration studies. The first study was conducted by Dr. Fred Urquhart through the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He invited research associates to join him in that quest in 1952, and it continued until 1994 . You can read about Dr. Urquhart's 42 + years of involvement with monarchs in his book, "The Monarch Butterfly, International Traveler".  I only worked with him for three years, but learned so much in that short time, and cherish the correspondence we shared during those years.

The second study, was started in 1992 by Dr. Orley (Chip) Taylor, through "Monarchwatch", http://monarchwatch.org , at the University of Kansas, USA, and 22 years later it is still ongoing, and open to anyone who wants to participate in a citizen scientist project. It is a wonderful program for people of all ages, especially anyone who loves monarchs and wants to help with monarch conservation.
 
What does it mean to tag a butterfly? A self-adhesive tag is applied to the lower back wing of a Fall monarch that has been raised or captured, and then release it back into the wild. The tag contains information on how to contact the University of Kansas so that you can notify them if you find or capture a monarch with a tag on it. The purpose of this study is to learn the route these monarchs take in the Fall migration to Mexico. Over the years they have learned many interesting monarch facts such as how far a monarch can travel in one day, and have verified the winter destination of migrating monarchs east of the Rockies continues to be the southern mountains of Mexico.

Monarchs are in trouble - if you want to help their migration phenomenon to continue, read my future blogs about things you can do personally.