At the Rivard Report, we believe the Monarch butterfly should be declared the Official Insect of San Antonio. Given our geographic location in the heart of the Texas flyway and the dramatic butterflies’ intimate connection to Mexico, it makes perfect sense.
Monarch butterflies are on the move this week. Reports from North Texas suggest they’ll be moving en masse through San Antonio, thus we’re devoting our next Something Monday, Oct. 21, to the storied creatures who migrate from Canada to Mexico and back each year.
Meet us at 6:30 p.m. at the Milkweed Patch on the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River near the Pearl (map below) and we’ll demonstrate How to Tag a Monarch Butterfly. Parking is available at the Pearl.
As the nights approach earlier in the evening, and for those that can make an earlier ride, we’ll be departing from Ace Mart’s San Antonio B-cycle station (936 S. Presa St.) at 6 p.m. for the Pearl. You don’t need to ride with us to attend the demonstration, but it should be a pleasant ride through downtown San Antonio. Afterwards, we can convene at one of few restaurants open on Monday evenings, Taco Haven, making the ride about six miles round-trip. Bring bike lights to comply with local ordinance as it will surely be dark by the time we return.
Tag a Monarch butterfly? How does one do that?
You’ll have to join us to find out. But show some respect – the dramatic orange and black butterflies have had a tough year. Many of us believe that 2013 is shaping up to be their worst in history, population wise.
Professional and citizen scientists have been “tagging” the storied creatures since the ’50s. That’s how they figured out that the Monarchs that are passing through town right now are the great-great grandchildren of the ones that left Mexico last spring.
Yep, that’s right. The butterflies that are migrating to Mexico this month through the “Texas Funnel” have never been to the roosting spot that is their final destination. That would be like finding your way to the home of your great-great grandmother without ever having known her address.
The methodology for unraveling this mystery entailed professional and citizen scientists “tagging” the butterflies throughout the Eastern U.S.
Monarch Watch, a citizen scientist program based at the University of Kansas at Lawrence, continues the program today.
The butterflies migrate to a remote mountainous area of southern Mexico in the winter, rouse in the spring, mate, then die. Their bodies are found on the forest floor. These days, scientists pay the local people of Michoacán $5 per recovered tag. In 1976, thanks to an intrepid Austin woman named Catalina Trail, scientists finally pieced together the puzzle and determined that Monarch butterflies are the only creatures on the planet to undertake a multi-generational migration.
And why the Milkweed Patch, you say?
Monarch butterflies will only lay their eggs on a particular plant–milkweed. The beautiful orange bloomer serves as the insects’ host plant and also provides nectar for fueling up for its long journey. The San Antonio River Authority planted a stand of milkweed on the Museum Reach four years ago when the River Walk was extended north.
The butterfly garden has since become known as The Milkweed Patch and is a regular hangout for Monarchs in the Spring and Fall, and other butterflies year-round. The Patch also is monitored by citizen scientists on behalf of the Monarch Larvae Monitoring Project.
Join us at the Milkweed Patch at 6:30 PM. Bring the kids. They’ll love it.
I’ll have a couple of butterfly nets and tags on hand to show you how its done. We’ll tag the butterflies, record their tag numbers, and make note if they are male and female. All that info will be to Monarch Watch and entered into a database that is accessible from the web.
We’ll release tagged butterflies to the wind with the hope they find their way to Mexico. Perhaps our ‘Something Monday’ Monarchs will be fortunate enough to complete the trip.
Rivard Report cofounder Monika Maeckle works at CPS Energy during the day. But she’d rather be outside. You can find her at the Texas Butterfly Ranch or on Twitter @monikam.
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“Journey North, an American group that adds up migration observations from the public, estimates that monarch numbers have fallen 80 per cent from 2012. And a University of Ottawa biologist think an even larger decline is possible, up to 90 per cent.” (Ottowa Citizen, 9/25/13)
Long as I live (and I thank God for this), I will never forget laying with Jane under cedar trees on her ranch loaded with monarchs. I would harass the butterflies from time to time to give us an Angels & Insects moment.
I love this time of year specifically for the butterflies in Texas!