Tagging Butterflies at the Cayuga Nature Center

Johanna and Halee Little afix a mylar tag to a monarch butterfly at the Cayuga Nature Center's annual tag/release today at the Center. In all, 25 of the 50 butterflies released were tagged as they begin their migration to Mexico.

First Tagging Date

The first tagging date of the 2008 season will be this Saturday, September 6th, 1:00 PM at the Cayuga Nature Center. Our second batch, monarchs who will be migrating, will probably be the 13th of September... but I will have a better handle on that as this week shapes up. We have more larvae than milkweed to feed them, so we are scrambling to adopt some out as well as secure some common milkweed! Delivered the larvae to Belle Sherman and South Hill Schools today... will be some excited Kindergardeners tomorrow!

Lifecycle of the Monarch

We have created a summary of the lifecycle of the monarch, in pictures, at www.littlesgreenhouse.com/butterflies

Enjoy!

Monarch Migration

I am getting a lot of questions from people as to "when do the monarchs migrate"... The answer is "soon"....

Monarchwatch.org has some good info on peak migration. The URL is http://monarchwatch.org/tagmig/peak.html

We are at lattitude ~42

Hope this helps.

J

Ithaca Journal Article

Very nice article in the Ithaca Journal today! We felt that it was very accurate and well written. (Note to self: Never tell a news reporter that the South Hill School kids call you the "butterfly guy...")

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080814/NEWS01/808140332/1002

Cayuga Nature Center

The butterfly house at Cayuga Nature Center is in fully swing! There is an exhibit in the center with eggs and larvae... and over 50 butterflies in the butterfly house. Great time to check out the exhibit as well as all the CNC has to offer!

First Butterfly Release

On Monday, August 11, we released over 300 monarchs from the butterfly house! What a truly awesome sight!