Monarch from Washington State Found in Marin County, California, October 2012
By David F. Marriott, Ph.D.
Executive Director, The Monarch Program
Incarcerated Citizen Scientists in Washington at Walla Walla State Penitentiary reared, tagged, and released 2381 monarchs in September. It is a new program designed by Dr. David D. James from Washington State University. Most of the rearing is conducted by a small group of dedicated inmates, whose devotion to the task and project has resulted in exceedingly low mortality rates.
On October 30, the first long distance flight was reported from Bolinas, California. It was a female found alive at an overwintering site on private property. It was released at Yakima in central Washington on September 17. Thus, in six weeks it traveled a straight line distance of about 620 miles in a SSW direction.
The monarchs are tagged with white circular tags fixed either to the ventral surface of the left hindwing or the dorsal surface of the right forewing. Each tag has a serial number and an e-mail address: monarch@wsu.edu. Everyone should keep their eyes open for tagged monarchs at overwintering sites along the coast of California.