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Butterflies in the sky: Badgers explore the world of migrating monarchs

UW–Madison students helped with butterfly tracking efforts as part of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve’s ongoing research initiative.

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It’s a magical journey that happens each year. Monarch butterflies travel thousands of miles from Canada and the northern United States to the warmer climate of Mexico where they will rest and feed over the winter months. The migration south provides a unique opportunity to track and monitor this important group of insects. The Lakeshore Nature Preserve’s monarch migration event, held this year on Sunday, Sept. 13, teaches students how to safely catch and tag the butterflies. It’s an important step in the ongoing research initiative to better understand the movement of the monarch butterfly and their ecological impact across North America.

Magomolla holds a bright green folder in one hand while talking to the group of students standing in front of her.
First year graduate student Makeela Magomolla (center) briefs UW students on what they’ll be doing during their monarch study session at the preserve. During the three-hour event, students learn the inns-and-outs of the monarch lifecycle and tag and catalogue butterflies they catch. PHOTO: JAKE PIPER / UW–MADISON
Mcgee kneels on the ground and talks to a group of students standing in front of him.
Biocore Professor Seth Mcgee shows off a native milkweed plant — a monarch caterpillar’s only source of food. PHOTO: JAKE PIPER / UW–MADISON
Two students look at a cocoon hanging from a milkweed plant.
Freshmen Anna Jacobus (left) and Katherine Cowperthwaite (right) examine a monarch chrysalis taken off a sample of milkweed. PHOTO: JAKE PIPER / UW–MADISON
Mcgee crouches on the ground and carefully removes a monarch from a butterfly net as students look on.
Catch (and tag) and release. Biocore Professor Seth Mcgee (center, crouching) shows students a monarch butterfly carefully caught in his soft-mesh net. PHOTO: JAKE PIPER / UW–MADISON
Mcgee holds a monarch in his hands and shows off the butterfly's patterns to students gathered around him.
Mcgee (left) shows students how to properly hold a monarch butterfly ahead of adding tracking stickers to the insects the group will catch. PHOTO: JAKE PIPER / UW–MADISON
A student looks on as a person holds a monarch butterfly in their hand.
The world at our fingertips. Senior Celine Jiang gets a close-up look at a monarch butterfly. PHOTO: JAKE PIPER / UW–MADISON
A person holds a monarch butterfly between their fingers while another person holds a ruler next to the butterfly's wings.
A monarch butterfly poses for its wingspan measurement as a part of routine tagging procedures. PHOTO: JAKE PIPER / UW–MADISON
Mcgee sits at a table and carefully adds a tracker to a monarch butterfly's wings.
Mcgee preps a monarch butterfly for the addition of a radio tracker, which will provide more insight into the insect’s journey south. PHOTO: JAKE PIPER / UW–MADISON
A student wearing a red Bucky Bader shirt holds out their hands as a monarch butterfly takes flight.
Freshman Lilly Thomson releases a monarch butterfly after attaching a tracking sticker to its wing. PHOTO: JAKE PIPER / UW–MADISON
A close up photo shows a person holding a monarch butterfly with a monarch watch sticker attached to its wing.
The newly attached tracking sticker will help researchers know if this butterfly will survive its migration. PHOTO: JAKE PIPER / UW–MADISON

Tags: campus life, conservation, Lakeshore Nature Preserve, recent sightings

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