Catching up!

I have not posted to the blog for a while... mostly been busy, but it also has not been a particularly good year for the butterflies. We got a very late start as we did not find any larvae in June like usual. We finally brought some in from outside the area in mid- July. They were reared successfully and we had a healthy crop of breeder butterflies in mid-August. They were actively breeding in the butterfly house and produced about 800 larvae, by Johanna's count!

We have spent most of today distributing larvae to the local elementary schools and child care programs for their classroom. If you are involved in education and would like to try your hand at raising some in your classroom, certainly shoot me an email at jel52@cornell.edu and we will get you set up.

There are some educational materials at www.littlesgreenhouse.com/butterflies for your use as well.

We are planning a tag and release party for Sunday, September 26th 2009 at the greenhouse. Stand by for a posting confirming the day and time...

Monarch Tag Recovered!

One of our monarch tags was recovered in Mexico!

Go to http://monarchwatch.org/tagmig/2008seasonMXrecoveries.html

Scroll down to LCA 022, it is a female we released on 9/16/08.

Whoohoo!

J

Monarchwatch

Here is a link to Monarchwatch's blog... see the March 9th , 2009 entry! They have collected over 1000 tags in the overwintering area andn ot the population overwintered pretty well. Migrating monarchs have been seen in Austin Texas... right on schedule on their return north!

http://monarchwatch.org/blog/

Butterfly tagging on September 21, at Littles Greenhouse

Hey we had a great day for the tagging and release on Sunday, 9/21 at our greenhouse/butterfly house! Over 40 monarchs were tagged that day. In total, that makes 125 tagged for the year of the 425 that have been released. There are 75 more tags... and many more chysalises to go!

Almost all of the larvae have completed the cycle and have pupated... just a few left. We are certainly concerned as we close to the first frost... and hope everyone will make it on their way before that time!

Video of a larvae becoming a chrysalis

Great video of a larvae going into a chrysalis...

http://picasaweb.google.com/pegazzani/Monarch#slideshow

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!