Sunday, Oct. 2 brought a good flight of monarchs into Cape May Point. While far from spectacular, it was certainly encouraging, since the entire month of September was very slow. The good flight continued through Monday morning.
We have recovered several monarchs in recent days that were not tagged by our team, two each from tag sequences WPJ and WRC. From replies to our Facebook posts we know that WPJ 369 and WPJ 370 were released here in Cape May by Danielle Pla. We would love to know who tagged WRC 508 and WRC 512, plus when and where they were tagged. When we find several in the same sequence it's usually someone who has been tagging here in Cape May. We don't mind others tagging here, but we would greatly appreciate knowing that you're working here, and it would help us to know the tag numbers that you've used here. We try to keep track of the total number of monarchs tagged in Cape May each year, and it's likely we'll recapture some; it helps us to know the ones that are from nearby. We also advise visiting taggers to stay out of private property unless you're given express permission to enter, including yards where our team has been granted permission.
Sometimes people who have raised monarchs inside will drive down to Cape May Point to release these butterflies, thinking that they're giving them a head start. Unless you live nearby, please don't do this! Your butterflies will have a greater chance of success if you release them in the same area where they spent their lives as caterpillars, even if it's considerably north of Cape May. Additionally, we have been conducting daily censuses of the monarchs in Cape May Point for over 25 years, and the accuracy of our data is diminished if extra monarchs are delivered to this region. Please, please, don't bring monarchs from elsewhere into Cape May.
Many thanks!
No comments:
Post a Comment