Monarchs are one of the most iconic insects in North America – and the only North American butterfly that undertakes a long-distance, multi-generational migration. NH Audubon has been tagging Monarchs for five years, and this fall they are adding new, solar-powered tags that pair with a phone app that allows users to follow butterfly migration in real time.
A total of 50 Monarchs are being tagged at locations in Concord and Great Bay. Half will have nanopins attached to their abdomens as part of the global Motus network (motus.org), and half will carry the new BlūMorpho tags connected to the Project Monarch research collaborative (projectmonarch.org). BlūMorpho tags are attached to the back of the butterfly where the sun will charge the solar tag throughout its travels and utilize the crowd-sourced Bluetooth network to collect migratory data. Three Monarchs released in Belmont in August are the first to carry BlūMorpho tags from NH.
“Two of our August Monarchs are making incredible progress for such tiny creatures,” says Dyanna Smith, Director of Communications at NH Audubon and Monarch volunteer. “We know from the Project Monarch Science app that ‘BetaTest’ left Belmont heading due west and has already travelled more than 1,500 miles in 30 days, crossing over Lake Michigan and reaching the Mississippi River,” Smith shared.
A second Monarch, “Mike”, left NH heading south two days later and was last detected at the southern edge of Georgia.
“We are eager to see if Mike continues southwest, circumnavigating the Gulf, to end up in Mexico or if he overwinters in the newly-discovered refugia in Florida,” she said.
Smith and other volunteers have been assisting NH Audubon Biologist Lindsay Herlihy to capture Monarchs and install the tags in hopes of building a deeper understanding of their movements and gaining insight into their declining populations.
“These new solar-powered tags are at the cutting edge of technology to study movement ecology,” Herlihy explains. “This is the first year they’ve been deployed in New England and we are thrilled to see how precise and numerous the detections are for the first eleven tags we have deployed so far this fall.”
Anyone using the free Project Monarch Science app can watch Monarchs migrate in real time and contribute to data collection by scanning for tags in the area – picking up detections when a tagged butterfly is sensed within a 10-100 yard distance of the location of the phone.
“Tracking individual butterflies is where it gets really fun for everybody,” Smith explains. The app shows hundreds of Monarchs tagged throughout the country, in addition to butterflies tagged in NH. “I’ve been watching ‘BetaTest’ all week to make sure he made it over the Lake Michigan – that’s an amazing journey for a butterfly that weighs half of a gram.”
Herlihy added: “In addition to being an incredibly powerful tool for Monarch migration research, the app offers unique and exciting opportunities for everyone to participate in the collection of scientific data.”
Even if smartphone owners do not have the app, any Bluetooth-enabled device acts like a mobile receiving station for BlūMorpho tags. Due to the power of the crowd-sourced Bluetooth network and people using the app, “Mike” has been detected over 2,600 times over the course of four weeks.
“Monarch populations have declined by over 80% since the early 1990s,” said Herlihy. “Since fall migration is the most hazardous and energy-intensive part of their annual cycle, it is critical for Monarch conservation that we understand the routes they take during migration. Once we know where Monarchs routinely stop to rest and refuel on their journey south, we will be able to take action to improve and preserve these stopover sites to hopefully halt, and eventually reverse, their population decline.”
NH Audubon biologists are training other research partners who are helping to release more tags along the eastern flyway. Thanks to partners Amy O’Donnell, USFWS and Dr. Micah Perkins, Owensboro Community and Technical College, and also to collaborator Amira Provost. NH Audubon’s leadership in Monarch tagging is supported by the generosity of the Butler Foundation and the Sarah K. de Coizart Article TENTH Perpetual Charitable Trust.
About New Hampshire Audubon
NH Audubon is a nonprofit statewide membership organization dedicated to the protection of New Hampshire’s natural environment for wildlife and for people. Independent of the National Audubon Society, NH Audubon has offered programs in wildlife conservation, land protection, environmental policy, and environmental education since 1914. NH Audubon protects thousands of acres of wildlife habitat and is a voice for sound public policy on environmental issues. For information on NH Audubon, including membership, volunteering, programs, sanctuaries, and publications, call 224-9909, or visit www.nhaudubon.org.