by Mary Rupert
Learning about tagging and tracking monarch butterflies was one of the highlights of the 11th annual Lawson Roberts Butterfly Festival Saturday at the Mr. and Mrs. F.L. Schlagle Environmental Library at Wyandotte County Lake Park.
Hailey Moss, education specialist at the Schlagle Library, said about 30 monarch butterflies were released at the library grounds Saturday. The butterflies are expected to fly south to Mexico.
Moss led a workshop that taught children and adults about monarch butterflies, their habitat and the tagging and tracking process. Several children were invited to help release the butterflies and to help enter data about the butterflies’ numbers into a record.
A tag placed on the butterflies before they were released identifies them with a number, and also includes an email address and phone number for the Monarch Watch research and conservation program sponsored through the University of Kansas.
“There are scientists waiting there around Christmas time on the other end,” Moss said. “They catch as many monarchs as they can to see if they have a tag on them. They’ll write down this number and they’ll know that butterfly came from Kansas City, Kan., at Wyandotte County Lake.”
If the butterflies don’t make it there, the scientists will try to determine what their obstacles were, she said.
The library contains a garden that is attractive to butterflies. Scientists have been concerned about the decline in the number of monarch butterflies over the past several decades. Butterflies have faced obstacles in recent years from highways and development. Areas that naturally have milkweed, the plant that larvae feed on, have been declining and the plant has been reduced by pollution.
Besides the release of the butterflies today, the library’s Butterfly Festival also included the presentation of photo contest award winners, crafts and face painting, a butterfly tent, a monarch migration challenge game, and a display of live insects and a bee hive.
Ron Curry, center, and his father, Hap Curry, right, examined a live bee display inside the Schlagle Library on Saturday. Paula Owen, left, has been a beekeeper in Kansas City, Kan., for 16 years and sells raw and unprocessed honey. (Staff photo by Mary Rupert)
