2011 Season Comes to a Close...

Well, I hate to say it, but the 2011 Monarch season has come to a close for the Monarch Monitoring Project.  We had some great times from tagging thousands of monarchs, to teaching monarch biology, to talking about monarchs, mantids and more!  Don't forget our excitement with our two news crews, and other media coverage! Thank you SO MUCH to all our volunteers this year, including Patsy, Paige, LuAnn, Michael (to name a few), and all of those who maintain the wonderful butterfly gardens! And a special thanks to Bill and Edie for letting us traipse all across their yard hunting monarchs, and opening up their home for a place of refuge and relief (of the bladder). :)  Of course this project would not happen at all without our dedicated leaders Dick Walton, Louise Zemaitis, and Mark Garland!

And without further ado, here is our final figures for the season...

*Census is 5 days instead of 7 days.

Our last week still had some monarchs! A whopping 13.64 dpph for week 9, which is 5 days instead of 7! On this last day, October 31, monarchs still made an appearance for Halloween with an amazing 10 monarchs seen on the last census of the last day of the last month of this monarch migration season!

Before I bid you all farewell, the PHOTO OF THE WEEK!!!

The Black Witch made an appearance at the State Park, Friday before Halloween!!!

The black witch riled up the insect folk this friday, 10/28 with a sighting at the State Park.  Someone (from Georgia) had good eyes to spot this mega-sized moth on the bark of a cedar tree.  The moth is found usually in Central and South America, and is called the "harbinger of death" in Mexican folklore.    This moth will migrate northward, and occasionally be found as far north as Canada.  This was a nice surprise for me, and made a great ending to my time in Cape May. 

THANK YOU for supporting the Monarch Monitoring Project!! We couldn't do what we do with out you! And thank you for allowing me to be your 2011 MMP Technician! I had a great season, learned lots, and had fun playing with monarchs and meeting all of you!!

Keep your eyes on the skies!

~Rebecca Allmond~

2011 MMP Technician