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Thread: Monarch Release

  1. #1
    Nature/Wildlife Forum Co-Moderator Loupey's Avatar
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    Monarch Release

    Went to the annual monarch butterfly tagging/release over the weekend at one of the local metro parks.

    Kids spent the morning capturing the butterflies and learning about their migration and life-cycle. The climax was obviously when all the tagged butterflies were released late in the afternoon. The journey will take these beauties 1,749 miles from this location to their wintering grounds near Mexico City.

    The odds that someone down there will find one of these tagged butterflies is literally a needle in the haystack. Over the thousands that have been released here during the last decade, only 11 have been retrieved.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Monarch Release-09-15-07-monarch-release-1.jpg   Monarch Release-09-15-07-monarch-release-2.jpg   Monarch Release-09-15-07-monarch-release-3.jpg   Monarch Release-09-15-07-monarch-release-4.jpg   Monarch Release-09-15-07-monarch-release-5.jpg  

    Please do not edit or repost my images.

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  2. #2
    Nature/Wildlife Forum Co-Moderator Loupey's Avatar
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    Re: Monarch Release

    and the last three images.

    Some of these with the wife's Sony P&S, the rest with the Canon 30D + 28mm f/1.8


    Safe journey.

    Thanks for looking.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Monarch Release-09-15-07-monarch-release-6.jpg   Monarch Release-09-15-07-monarch-release-7.jpg   Monarch Release-09-15-07-monarch-release-8.jpg  
    Please do not edit or repost my images.

    See my website HERE.


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  3. #3
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    Re: Monarch Release

    Nice pictures. I was wondering how they tagged them. Those stickers really stay on them??? I had a few of them come through my yard this year. I haven't seen one in years...I get very few butterflies. I guess I need to plant different plants.

  4. #4
    project forum co-moderator Frog's Avatar
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    Re: Monarch Release

    That first shot is Great!
    Keep Shooting!

    CHECK OUT THE PHOTO PROJECT FORUM
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    Please refrain from editing my photos without asking.

  5. #5
    Senior Member mn shutterbug's Avatar
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    Re: Monarch Release

    Very interesting. I didn't realize that butterflys were actually tagged. I like the look on the girl's face in the 4th photo. She looks completely mesmerized. Thanks for sharing.
    Mike
    www.specialtyphotoandprinting.com
    Canon 30D X 2, Canon 100-400L, Thrift Fifty, Canon 18-55 IS 3rd generation lens plus 430 EX II flash and Better Beamer. :thumbsup:

  6. #6
    Carpe Diem I_Fly's Avatar
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    Re: Monarch Release

    I love the first shot also! And I like the antennae on the woman in the 3rd shot.
    Troy

    www.troybates.com
    When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. -Leonardo da Vinci

  7. #7
    Nature/Wildlife Forum Co-Moderator Loupey's Avatar
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    Re: Monarch Release

    Thanks for looking, everyone, and taking the time to comment.

    Toot - yeah those stickers don't look very adhesive. But apparently the monarch don't have fragile wings and their scales don't come off easily like other non-migratory butterflies. Still, the number of wing beats between here and there must be one awesomely large number. That along with the speed of their wingstroke must mean that stickers could be found everywhere along the way
    Please do not edit or repost my images.

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  8. #8
    Ex-Modster Old Timer's Avatar
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    Re: Monarch Release

    Very interesting, I had no idea something like this was done. Thanks for the lesson. I agree that most be some strong super glue to last 1,700 miles.
    Don't forget about the Gallery. Are your photos there??


    Nikon Samurai #13

    "A photographer is known by what he shows not by what he throws. The best photographers have the biggest trash cans." Quote from Nikon School sometime in the early 1970's.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Rivman's Avatar
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    Re: Monarch Release

    Some of those Monarchs have already logged a few thousand miles just getting there to be tagged !
    They started heading south from here about early August up to early September.
    On one particularily stormy, breezy, windy day, I counted about 48 (that I actually spotted), in a 3 hour time span, passing through my back yard on thier journey to Mexico.
    Amazing how this event occurs every year, and they don't even use GPS devices !
    Thanks for those fine pics Loupey !
    . . . only 11 out of thousands ? :thumbsup:
    Randy, Gear - 3 in the green, with a T2i and some lenses !

  10. #10
    Nature/Wildlife Forum Co-Moderator Loupey's Avatar
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    Re: Monarch Release

    OT - thanks for looking. Yeah, I learned a lot too.

    Rivman - you're absolutely right. The other morning as I sat out on our deck drinking my morning coffee, I saw 6 monarchs flying just above tree tops in the cool morning air. All flying due south.

    The research group pays people in Mexico $5 for every tag they find. Still, finding a tagged one on a forest floor absolutely covered with dead and dying butterflies is a daunting task.
    Please do not edit or repost my images.

    See my website HERE.


    What's a Loupe for anyway?

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