Ellwood Main Monarch Overwintering Site

    Ok, this part of my homepage is truly under construction and has suffered from numerous construction delays. 

    To try to stay current and then work backwards, I will first post my 2005-2006 monarch tagging data.

    Tag series    # males tagged    # females tagged    Unknown    Totals    Date tagged
    12000            147                        108                        02            257        12/03/2005
    13000            613                        373                        07            993        12/03/2005
    14000            336                        222                        00            558        12/03/2005
    14000            282                        152                        04            438        12/04/2005
    15000            463                        320                        14            797        12/04/2005
    16000            091                        087                        00            178        12/04/2005
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Subtotals          1932                      1262                        27           3221

    15000            099                        094                        02            195        01/28/2006
    16000            437                        356                        21            814        01/28/2006
    17000            532                        405                        18            956        01/28/2006
    18000            112                        113                        02            227        01/28/2006
    18000            387                        355                        10            752        01/29/2006
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subtotals           1567                     1323                        53          2943

Grand Totals     3499                     2585                        80          6164
                          57.51%

    The annual protocol has been to try to tag 6000 monarchs each winter at Ellwood.  Three thousand in early winter in early December, and 3000 in late winter in late January.  This season we achieved our goal.  We need to tag so many monarchs in order to get long distance spring migrant recoveries.  We will be lucky  to get about a dozen recoveries of more than 10 km.
     By the second tagging session, we had received only THREE recoveries.  Two were found on the bluffs of Ellwood, and the third was found at Devereaux School.  This is an indication that (a) the monarchs are not moving around very much, (b) survivorship is excellent, and (c) our tags are not detrimental.  Historically, mortality picks up later in January and especially into February.  There is a nearby wasp colony that predates on the monarchs, so the ground under the roosting area is often littered with dead bodies.  There are also a number of birds that will eat monarchs that frequent  the area, such as Western Kingbirds, European Starlings, and Black Phoebes.  Thus, more dead tagged monarchs are reported.  

    Well, more to come.  Stay  tuned.