Sydney's Monarch
More Tagging Stories

Monarch Butterfly Tagged in Minnesota Recovered in Mexico Migration Map: Monarch Butterfly Tagged in Minnesota Recovered in Mexico Monarch Butterfly Tagged in Minnesota Recovered in Mexico
Tagged in Minnesota Flew 2,000 Miles Recovered in Mexico

Sydney is a 7-year old girl from Nowthen, MN. Her father found a monarch caterpillar in the horse pasture and Sydney raised it to an adult butterfly. Her family tagged and released the monarch on September 7, 2014.

Sidney lives 2,000 miles from Mexico.

"Even though we all know monarchs fly to Mexico it is still amazing to me that one little butterfly can fly so far with such accuracy," said Sydney's father.

About 30,000 monarchs were tagged in fall 2014, according to Diane Pruden of Monarch Watch. Only a few hundred tags are typically found at the sanctuaries. On February 23, 2015 Sydney's tag #THY 272 was recovered by people at the El Rosario sanctuary.