Monarch Butterfly Migration Update: August 30, 2001 Welcome to Journey South's Migration Season Mapping the Migration to Mexico Highlights From Along the Migration Trail Challenge Question #1: When Will the First Monarchs Reach Mexico? Challenge Questions: A Central Tool for Student Learning Challenge Question #2: Migration Math: Who Saw the Most Monarchs? Try This! Estimating the Number of Monarchs in a Roost Reminder: EARLY Symbolic Migration Deadline--October 5th Welcome to Journey South's Migration Season! Our lives take a turn in the fall. Across the north, summer's long days shorten rapidly and temperatures drop. Meanwhile, millions of children return to school. Their year will be spent learning skills needed during the long human life span. Monarchs refueling on a windy day in a Minnesota prairie. Days with strong south winds are best spent feeding. Click here for QuikTime video clip (smaller file). Click here for higher quality .mpg file (1,300 KB) At this very time, a magical event takes place in the animal world. Perhaps traveling over your own head right now--or clustered by the hundreds in a nearby tree--the annual monarch butterfly migration to Mexico is underway. It's such an unlikely story! As if autumn leaves could arrest their fall, point in the direction of Mexico, and float all the way there. The butterflies are born knowing everything they need to survive, and we look on with wonder: How do they know which direction to go? How fast and high can they fly? And how do they find their destination--a small speck on the planet where no monarch living today has ever been before? Come travel with the monarchs as we explore questions like these in the weeks ahead. We'll see what scientists have learned about these mysteries, and discover many questions that remain. Mapping the Migration to Mexico You can track the peak migration all the way to Mexico, using data included in these weekly updates. Make a display your whole school can enjoy, and include quotes from observers along the migration trail. Our maps will color-code this fall's migration records, using a different color for every two-week interval. Link to This Week's Migration Data Highlights From Along the Migration Trail The monarchs are off to an early start this year! We normally have news only from the north at this time, but August observations in the south are most surprising this year: The first monarchs have already appeared as far south as the Texas/Mexico border. This range of maps shows their expansion since early August: August 9 August 16 August 23 August 30 Just how early are the monarchs? For 22 years, Carol Cullar has been keeping records at her home in Texas, 2 miles north of the Rio Grande River. "My first sightings always occurred precisely on October 12th. I saw my first monarch this morning at dawn on August 28th," she reports. Only once in the past 22 years has she seen a monarch earlier, September 18th of last year. Similarly, a local butterfly expert in Midland, Texas, saw hundreds of monarchs. She believes the migration may be 6 weeks early! Last year the first butterflies were reported from the Mexican sanctuaries on October 18th. This makes us wonder: Challenge Question #1: "When do you predict the first monarchs will arrive at the Mexican sanctuaries this year?" (To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.) Challenge Questions: A Central Tool for Student Learning Journey North will provide a series of "Challenge Questions" in these weekly updates. Challenge Questions model good science and the thinking/questioning process that scientists use in their work. For more information and suggested classroom use see: Challenge Questions: A Central Tool for Student Learning Migration Math: Who Saw the Most Monarchs? Challenge Question #2 is based on actual monarch observations. When reading the observers' comments below, it's very hard to tell at first glance where the migration was strongest. But convert the units to either monarchs/hour or monarchs/minute and you'll see the answer right away. (When you report your migration observations, please include the same standard units so we can all see what you saw!) Link to Student Worksheet: Migration Math: Who Saw the Most Monarchs? Observer #1) "I saw 15 Monarchs at a softball game. I was counting and watching for 30 minutes." Observer #2) "I saw 3 Monarchs during a ten minute drive during my lunch hour." Observer #3) "I saw 10 Monarchs in 15 minutes. It was not windy." Observer #4) "I noticed five Monarchs between 11:00 am and 12:15 pm." Observer #5) "From 8:00 a.m. to 5 pm we saw 132 monarchs migrating south or southwest." Observer #6) "On an hourly drive over the same 60 miles of road I now see about 20 monarch, twice the number of monarch's that I saw the previous week." Observer #7) "I counted an average of 25 monarchs in 5 minutes." Challenge Question #2: "Who saw the most monarchs? In your answer, use the same units to compare the number of monarchs (either monarchs/hour or monarchs/minute). Arrange the observations in order, from the observer who saw the most to fewest monarchs." (To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.) Try This! Estimating the Number of Monarchs in a Roost "The pine trees bordering our property have been covered with monarchs. Every time I walked under the trees I was greeted by a cloud of monarchs. I have no idea how many are roosting in the trees. I counted 20 on a small branch and while I was counting there were at least 50 flying from tree to tree. Several of my students have reported large groups of monarchs in the trees in their yards as well." Mr. Fahrendorff, Grade 5, Hillcrest Elementary Ellsworth, Wisconsin Picture #1 (Click to enlarge.) Courtesy of Tim Mostrom The migration is now at a peak in the northern mid-continent. People are dazzled by the beauty of fall "butterfly trees." And when attempting to estimate their numbers the reaction is no different than this biologist's, who was new to studying monarchs: "I am totally intimidated by the prospect of trying to estimate numbers in a major roost," the biologist said. Whether counting whales or caribou, bats or butterflies, scientists often use still photos to help estimate numbers. Here's a chance to practice so you're ready when you happen upon a major monarch roost some day. 1) As a class, take a 10-second look at Picture #1 above. Without discussing, students should guess and record the number of butterflies they think they just saw. Link to Full Lesson: Estimating the Number of Monarchs in a Roost Reminder: EARLY Symbolic Migration Deadline--October 5th Please join us! But don't be late: Butterflies received after the postmark deadline cannot migrate. For information and mailing details, see: Symbolic Monarch Butterfly Migration How to Respond to Today's Monarch Challenge Questions: IMPORTANT: Please answer ONLY ONE question in each e-mail message! 1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-monarch@learner.org 2. In the Subject Line of each message write: Challenge Question #1 (or #2) 3. In the body of the message, answer ONE of the questions above. The Next Monarch Migration Update Will Be Posted on September 6, 2001. Copyright 2001 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form