Aug. 25, 1997
Contacts: Dann Hayes, (785) 864-8855, Kathryn Clark, (785) 864-8857, Brad Kemp, (785) 864-4540 Story by Dann Hayes, (785) 864-8855
LARGEST MONARCH MIGRATION IN 20 YEARS EXPECTED IN KANSAS
LAWRENCE - Tens of millions of monarch butterflies will stampede through Kansas in September, and a researcher at the University of Kansas is ready for the show.
Orley R. Taylor Jr., KU professor of biological sciences, is director of Monarch Watch, a collaborative program of the KU Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, Texas Monarch Watch and Olathe East High School. He founded the volunteer program in 1991 to find help in collecting and tagging monarchs. Monarch Watch now encompasses the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Taylor expects the largest migration of monarchs in 20 years to pass through Kansas on their way to Mexico for the winter. He is rounding up students and volunteers to collect data during the event.
Kansas was known for large stampedes of cattle or bison during the Wild West era. But this modern stampede is expected to dwarf those by sheer numbers.
"We expect a fabulous migration through Kansas this year," Taylor says. "The numbers of adult monarchs reported from around the country have been astonishing. During the past two years, we've had very favorable conditions for monarchs."
Taylor says the monarch population had survived last winter extremely well, and conditions in their summer habitats have been favorable. Two consecutive years of mild weather conditions throughout North America contributed to the large migration.
Monarchs have a life span of seven to eight months. This generation of monarchs will winter in Mexico and then return to the United States and Canada in the spring to mate.
Each year, hundreds of millions of monarchs migrate from their summer homes throughout the northern United States and southern Canada. The monarchs navigate across the continent to a 75-mile area between Del Rio and Eagle Pass, Texas, on the Rio Grande River - the border between Texas and Mexico. >From there, they fly to their winter roosts near Mexico City.
"The prospects for an excellent fall migration appear to be very good," Taylor notes. "Substantial numbers of monarchs have been reported from nearly all parts of the northern breeding range in recent weeks. Even areas such as New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which typically have moderate to low monarch populations in July, have good numbers this year."
After passing through Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota the monarchs should reach Kansas in early September, depending on how fast the weather pushes them through, he says. Monarch butterflies depend on weather fronts to help them fly the long distances to their winter quarters.
Students and volunteers assist by collecting and tagging the butterflies throughout the migration area. Many of those tagged are found in Mexico.
"Wamego (east of Manhattan) is a hot spot in Kansas for monarchs," Taylor said. "Students in that community tagged more than 12,000 butterflies last year. We were sending them tags every day."
Volunteers not only tag the butterflies but identify their sex and wing condition. They also record the weather conditions when individual butterflies are tagged.
For more information on Monarch Watch, call (888) TAGGING (toll free) or (785) 864-1111 or send an e-mail message to [email protected]. To access the World Wide Web site, type http://www.keil.ukans.edu/~monarch/
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Editors note: Orley R. Taylor Jr. is expected to be in the field collecting monarch butterflies in September. To accompany him or to make arrangements for interviews, call Dann Hayes, Kathryn Clark or Brad Kemp. Videos and photographs of Taylor in the field are available.
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