By Joseph Reznik | Columnist
The beginning of August marks the halfway point of summer. As the sun begins to move further south, the days get shorter and decrease the amount of sunlight each day. The heat of August may discourage us from going outside, but this is a great time to be outdoors. Just make sure you apply the sunscreen and keep yourself hydrated.
This is the time of year that the lessening sunlight is telling plants and animals that it is time to start thinking about winter. Plants are storing food in their roots and the animals that stick around for the winter are eating more to store fat for the winter. Other animals, like birds and butterflies, will migrate and go to areas that are not as cold and find warmer climates that will have available food through the winter months.
One insect that migrates is the monarch butterfly. These large, bright orange butterflies are a real treat to see come through our area. Monarchs will begin heading south in August and the monarchs that begin their migration south are not the same individuals that migrated north in the spring. Sometimes, several generations are needed to complete the entire migration. So not only are the monarchs taking cues from their environment, but their mothers have also passed on some chemical cues to help their children know which way they need to travel when they get their wings.
We’ve learned a lot about the migration patterns of monarchs through a citizen science project called Monarch Watch. This organization runs a program that allows anyone to catch and place a sticker on monarchs, and they teach you how to do this. You may need a butterfly net to catch the monarch, but once you do, you can either see if the monarch you’ve caught has a sticker on it and then let Monarch Watch know the place where you caught the tagged individual or you can place a sticker on the monarch and see if anyone else catches it and reports it back to the program. You can also observe what plants the monarchs use for food as they land, and report this information to Monarch Watch as well.
Even if you don’t tag an individual, any observation you make about the monarchs is one more piece of information that helps us to protect and conserve this species. And while you are out, you can always continue to report anything you observe through the iNaturalist app.
So I hope this activity will encourage everyone to spend a little bit of time outdoors and if you want to tell me about your adventures, drop me an email at: [email protected] Happy explorations…
Joseph Reznik teaches biology and math at the Community College of Allegheny County’s main campus. He can be reached at [email protected]
