More monarch sightings reported this year than last

Kerry Jarvis led volunteers through butterfly tagging September 2. Pictured, he lets a viceroy butterfly go after it was mistaken to be a monarch. A viceroy has a very similar appearance to the monarch.

Hub Staff

Butterfly Gardens of Saugeen Shores (BGOSS) is reporting more sightings of monarch butterflies this season. On the second of three monarch tagging days, executive member Kerry Jarvis said that in 2016 approximately 100 monarchs were tagged over the course of a month; whereas this year they’ve tagged over 200 in an approximate two week period. “We’re hoping to tag more and we have been seeing, over the last two weeks, monarch roosts throughout Southampton and Port Elgin.” Jarvis explained a roost is a conglomerate of between two dozen and 500 butterflies that roost and sit in trees overnight before moving on in their southern migration.

Over 30 volunteers attended the second tagging day September 2 on Southampton’s Captain Spence Trial, the largest butterfly park in Saugeen Shores which features seven pods; as well as Perkins Park. Volunteers were given proper catching nets and monarchs were numbered and tagged so they could be recorded when they made it to their southern destination. Jarvis believes that the numbers have risen partly due to efforts in raising awareness around planting monarch-friendly plants such as milkweed and nectarine plants.

Anderson Haugh, who attended the first tagging day, said he caught three monarchs that day and caught the first butterfly of the day on September 2. “It was on a plant sitting and so I quietly moved over and swiped,” said Haugh, who was there with his mother and brother, and knew quite a bit about the monarch he caught and could tell that it was a female.

“A boy has a dot and the girl has a thick line where the dot is supposed to be on a boy,” he said.

The last community tagging day will take place Saturday, September 9 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., with a rain date scheduled for September 10. Volunteers are asked to meet under the big flag in Southampton.

Experienced monarch tagger Anderson Haugh with the first catch of the day September 2 on Southampton’s Captain Spence Trail, during the Butterfly Gardens of Saugeen Shores monarch tagging day.

Brian Robin of Grange Hallow (right) along with Beth Anne, Kathy and Tori, had some fun catching A.J. in between monarch sightings at the September 2 monarch tagging day.

Avery MacDonald was dressed the part with butterfly earrings and a butterly t-shirt .

A large group of people were ready to tag at two butterfly garden locations, the Captain Spence Trail and Perkins Park, both in Southampton, September 2.