Photos: Catching, radio-tagging and releasing monarch butterflies at Good Pond Sanctuary near Arlington
New technology is allowing researchers to tag monarch butterflies with micro-transmitters that weigh less than a grain of rice to track butterflies as they migrate to Mexico.
Tracking monarch butterflies
Jim Otto of Madison, a volunteer at Goose Pond Sanctuary near Arlington, stalks monarch butterflies roosting in pine trees at the 700-acre natural area north of Madison.
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Jim Otto holds a net with a monarch butterfly he had just captured. The butterfly was later equipped with a solar-powered micro-transmitter that allows scientists and the general public to track via an app the butterfly’s migration to Mexico.
Tracking monarch butterflies
This monarch butterfly was captured on Sept. 5 at Goose Pond Sanctuary in southern Columbia County.
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Mark Martin, who manages Goose Pond Sanctuary near Arlington, holds a mesh cage with monarch butterflies that were caught on the property. The sanctuary has tagged 30 monarchs in recent days and is part of a larger effort in North America to learn more about monarch migration paths.
Tracking monarch butterflies
Suzanne Otto made a pair of pants adorned with butterflies to celebrate the release of butterflies tagged with micro-transmitters. Otto and her husband, Jim, donated money to pay for five transmitters that cost $200 each.
Tracking monarch butterflies
Jim and Suzanne Otto of Madison worked together on Sept. 5 to capture monarch butterflies at Goose pond Sanctuary near Arlington.
Tracking monarch butterflies
Samantha Humes, left of Pewaukee, records information on a butterfly from Emma Raasch, land steward at Goose Pond Sanctuary. The monarchs are inspected for wing damage, wing size, weight and for their sex.
Tracking monarch butterflies
Emma Raasch measures the wing length of a monarch butterfly captured on Sept. 5 at Goose Pond Sanctuary.
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Monarch butterflies need to weigh at least 500 milligrams in order to be fitted with a 60 milligram transmitter. The butterflies are placed in glassine envelopes to protect them during the process.
Tracking monarch butterflies
Samantha Humes, a volunteer with Goose Pond Sanctuary and the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance tabulates data on monarch butterflies at a table in the dining room of a former house that still stands on the 700-acre property near Arlington.
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Using a hand-held microscope, Samantha Humes inspects scales removed from the abdomen of a monarch butterfly for 0phryocystis elektroscirrha. The parasite can reduce the endurance and limit the reproduction of monarchs. Those with OE are rejected for a transmitter.
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The 60 milligram radio transmitters for monarch butterflies were developed as part of Project Monarch, a joint effort by Cellular Tracking Technologies, which created the device, and Cape May Point Arts & Science Center in New Jersey, which created the app. These six transmitters cost $200 each.
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Goose Pond Sanctuary, owned by the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance, offers prime habitat for monarch butterflies. Here, Mark Martin, manager of the sanctuary, begins a walk into a segment of prairie along Kampen Road.
Tracking monarch butterflies
At night, monarch butterflies roost amid pine trees at Goose Pond Sanctuary. But during the day, they feed on the nectar of wild flowers, like meadow blazing star.
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Eyelash glue sets on a monarch butterfly that had just been attached with a transmitter. Technicians take a number of precautions to protect the fragile butterflies from harm. They are placed in glassine envelopes and then in a cooler to make them more lethargic during the delicate process.
Tracking monarch butterflies
Emma Raasch coaxes a monarch butterfly to grab hold of a thin dowel before placing weights on its wings and then attaching a tiny transmitter.
Tracking monarch butterflies
Transmitter are weighed before being placed on monarch butterflies. The two-inch-long devices weigh about 60 milligrams. Monarch butter flies weigh between 500 to 600 milligrams each.
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Emma Raasch of the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance works carefully as she glues a tiny transmitter to a monarch butterfly. The Project Monarch app allows butterflies with the 60 milligram devices to be tracked throughout North America during their migration to Mexico in the fall and their return trips in the spring. Monarchs live about 8 months.
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Suzanne Otto releases a butterfly she sponsored that now has a tiny transmitter. Otto, who lives in Madison, said she has become obsessed with using the Project Monarch app to track the butterflies, this one named Suzanne. The butterfly was last detected in northeastern Iowa.
The tiny transmitters are bringing new insights on migration patterns and has many people glued to their phones following their travels through an app.
