The Outdoor Campus is Tagging Monarchs

The Outdoor Campus East, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is tagging monarch butterflies, and they need your help!   They’re looking for anyone who sees a gathering of 100 or more monarchs so that they can be tagged and tracked as they migrate south toward Mexico.

Migrating monarchs are unique among butterflies in that they migrate farther than any other type of butterfly, up to 3,000 miles.  If that’s not impressive enough, they usually travel en masse, round trip, to the same location year after year, often even to the exact spot they landed the previous year.

Groups like The Outdoor Campus tag monarchs because although the monarch migration is an impressive feat, there are still many questions that remain unanswered.  By studying tagged monarchs, they hope to gain more data and information about monarchs and their patterns.

The process of tagging monarchs takes place from mid-August through September, and the actual tag itself is a small round disc placed in the middle of the monarch’s wing.

The best time to spot groups of monarchs is at night, resting on trees.  If you live in eastern South Dakota, and see monarchs in your yard, call the Outdoor Campus at 605-362-2777 so they can come out and tag them!