Monarch Watch Blog

Archive for January, 2008

2008 Tagging Kits

31 January 2008 | Author: Jim Lovett

We are now accepting orders for the 2008 Monarch Watch Tagging Kits. As most longtime taggers know, we have a limited number of monarch tags created each year and demand always exceeds the supply. If you would like to participate ...

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Pismo Beach Monarch Grove

31 January 2008 | Author: Jim

From time to time (usually during the monarch overwintering period) we receive information about the western monarch population - here is a recent communication regarding the operations at the Pismo Beach Monarch Grove in California. We have 40 active State Park ...

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New Tree Nursery Near Cerro Pelon

29 January 2008 | Author: Jim

The monarch colonies in Mexico are scattered over a number of distinct mountains. Among these is Cerro Pelon, a mountain near Zitácuaro that harbors 1-3 relatively small monarch colonies each year. Although it ranks as the third most important monarch ...

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“Monarch River” at Cerro Pelon

21 January 2008 | Author: Jim

Last October, our tagging program was featured in an ABC World News segment ("A Nation on Monarch Watch"). This segment utilized some of my footage (shot in March, 2007) of streaming monarchs at Cerro Pelon in central Mexico. ...

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2007: Unusual Migration & Hotter Than Normal Fall

18 January 2008 | Author: Jim

Tagging has shown that the timing and pace of the migration is generally quite predictable (see "Peak Migration Dates"). The pace of the migration was normal this year as the butterflies advanced from 50 degrees latitude in the north to ...

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Roundup-Ready Crops and Resistant Weeds

17 January 2008 | Author: Jim

One of our justifications for the Monarch Waystation program has been the loss of milkweeds in 100 million acres of row crops* that followed the adoption of Roundup Ready soybeans and corn. In June of 2004 I wrote “Effects of ...

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1,800 Monarch Waystations and Counting

17 January 2008 | Author: Jim

The number of certified Monarch Waystations continues to grow. In 2007, we added nearly 800 habitats to the registry and the total number of registered Monarch Waystations to date is 1,835. We hope to add another 1,000 (or ...

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New Website for Western Monarchs

17 January 2008 | Author: Jim

The Ventana Wildlife Society, under the leadership of Jessica Griffith and with the support of Helen Johnson, has created a website for Western Monarchs: ventanaws.org/conservation/monarchs.htm Much of the content of the website focuses on the efforts by the ...

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2007 Monarch Tagging

10 January 2008 | Author: Jim

The number of orders for monarch tagging kits this past fall (1, 800+) suggests that more people participated in tagging in 2007 than in any previous year. Moreover, the returned datasheets indicate that the tagging was quite ...

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Monarch Degree Days

9 January 2008 | Author: Jim

For the last four years we have been using the accumulated monarch degree days during the breeding season to show how the temperatures relate to the numbers of monarchs each fall. These records were particularly useful in explaining the low ...

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