MUSCATINE, Iowa — Saturday afternoon was filled with wonder for the approximately 15 children and adults who came to the Muscatine County Conservation Board’s Environmental Learning Center in Muscatine for a butterfly-tagging workshop.

A clear-windowed  box filled with monarch butterflies in various stages of development gave those at the workshop a first-hand view of the insect’s life cycle.

Naturalist Michelle Berns led the workshop, first describing the life stages of a monarch butterfly and the insect’s annual migration path.

Berns uses butterfly tagging kits from the Monarch Watch group to help that organization track the migration patterns of butterflies.

Monarch Watch is a 17-year-old educational outreach program based at the University of Kansas that invites Americans to join the effort to care for the monarch species.

Naturalist and environmentalists throughout the United States cooperate with Monarch Watch hoping to help ensure the future of monarchs,  said Berns.

The monarch’s habitat is decreasing, and one of the greatest threats to butterflies is motor vehicles.

Program officials at Monarch Watch estimate that more than 100,000 students and adults participate in tagging activities each fall.

The kits contain tiny, information-filled stickers. The laser-printed stickers are coded to show where the butterflies came from and include the Monarch Watch e-mail address and phone number, 1-888-TAGGING. Each sticker also has its own number.

Taggers write their  names next to the number of each sticker they use on a logging sheet. That information is sent back to the University of Kansas and if the tagger’s butterfly is located on another part of the continent, his or her name will be entered into a national database that shows where the butterfly was tagged and where it ended up.

Berns said people who find the butterflies alive or dead can call and report them to Monarch Watch.

After the lecture, Berns  coaxed a monarch from the box into her hand and gently pressed a sticker on the outside of one wing.  

She placed the tagged butterfly on the hand of a  child who released it outdoors.

Berns repeated the process with the other butterflies, teaching adults in the group how to tag them without injuring their wings.

The class members then went outside with nets and tagging kits to find more monarchs.

Berns said monarchs migrate more than 3,000 miles in the early spring and  late summer  between areas of the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The butterflies travel together by the hundreds and roost together in trees at night, creating a spectacular sight, said Berns.

 For more information on monarch educational programming, call Berns at the Muscatine County Conser-vation Board at 264-5922 for more information.

How you can help

In addition to tagging butterflies, area residents can create more habitats for them by planting and maintaining nectar-rich flowers and nourishing milkweed plants in their yards.

According to Monarchwatch.org, 90 percent of all milkweed/monarch habitats occur in rural areas but  the use of herbicides in those areas is killing off the plants monarchs need to live.

People can have their monarch habitats certified as official Monarch Waystations which are included on the online database for the International Monarch Waystation Registry.

Weatherproof signs that identify individual Monarch Waystations are also available through the organization. Monarch Watch officials hope the placement of those signs may encourage others to create their own Monarch Waystations.

To learn more about planting a Monarch Waystation, go to the Website: www.MonarchWatch.org