A Monarch butterfly that was caught, analysed, and then released by Terry and Betty at Rosetta McClain Gardens back on September 2nd, 2017 has been found and photographed in a natural protected area of the San Agustinos Sierra, in the Guanajuato municipality of Acambaro, Mexico. The city of Acambaro is roughly 85kms northwest of the large Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico.
Photographing this butterfly was like 'winning the lottery' for one of the areas most acitve Monarch butterfly monitors. Read the story in the Mexico News Daily here.
The long distance traveller, known as XAL289, is a female. She was caught by Betty and analysed and released by Terry. Terry mentioned that this butterfly was rated a 4 out of 5 on his 'condition' scale, so she was in 'good' health when released. Her weight was .55g, which was also very good.
(Gilberto Ruiz Parra)
All data regarding this Monarch and all of the others captured this season were directly entered in to an application known as Dunkadoo. Dunkadoo is a tool to help scientists and citizen scientists alike collect data in the field and have it stored and displayed instantaneously over the internet for all to see.
XAL289 was found and photographed (in the dark!) on November 2nd, 2017 by Gilberto Ruiz Parra. Carol Goodman (Co-founder of 'Dunkadoo') surmised that this butterfly likely averaged about 70kms each day along it's journey south.
A straight-line path using Google Earth from Rosetta McClain Gardens, Toronto, Canada to the city of Acambaro, Mexico is roughly 3500kms. This little butterfly would've flown much farther than that to get around the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, and any other obstacles along the way. It also would've been pushed off course somewhat by any strong winds.
Absolutely fantastic! Congratulations Terry and Betty.
Walter
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