The summit of Saddle Mountain loomed, barely visible above the dense fog, as the truck slowly motored along the rain-soaked track. I was headed into Bog Hole, an area southeast of Patagonia. Today would be five years to the day since I first ventured into this site in excited anticipation of finding large numbers of beautiful monarch butterflies to catch and tag as part of the Southwest Monarch Study’s database.
Not only had my hunch proven to be correct, I would go on to personally discover and extensively explore what would turn out to be one of southern Arizona’s richest and most diverse monarch breeding habitats.
On that day, August 30, 2008, descending through thickets of mimosa towards a pond surrounded by robust riparian trees, my eyes were greeted by a diverse mix of plant life unlike any I had become familiar with at other sites. Magnificent, tall, yellow sunflower stands marched down-slope and across grassy meadow terraces, merging with green mounds of purple-spiked foxtail prairie clover. Everywhere were scattered patches of white Mexican star-thistle, lush grama grasses, blue commelina, and showy clumps of goldenrod. Monarchs were seemingly everywhere, feeding and cavorting on the numerous terrace patches of milkweed, or taking nectar from the extensive carpets of yellow bidens flowers covering the damp swale bottom. Further on I descended into drainages with blooming seep-willow stands. In this feeding ground, it was a simple matter to sweep up monarchs to tag and release.
Now, five years since that magical day, it’s become painfully apparent how rainfall-dependent this paradise is, and the rain gods have not been especially kind of late. The main swale hasn’t sustained the soggy bottom moisture that allowed the vast stands of yellow bidens to thrive, nor the sprawling prairie clover mounds along the banks. Above, much of the vegetation is reduced in spread, and goldenrod has completely disappeared. Below is a drying, mostly empty pond bottom. Yet the milkweed is there and the monarchs still thrive. By sunset I’d covered a lot of ground and tagged 80 monarchs, more than the 66 of August 30, 2008.
Joe Billings (JB), a largely self-taught naturalist, has explored extensively on foot, through remote and rugged terrain, while tagging well over 5,000 wild monarchs for the Southwest Monarch Study.
How to Tag a Butterfly
Reach down into the net, gently but firmly clasp the monarch’s forewings together along the upper edge. Then, carefully, without yanking too hard, remove the butterfly. Monarchs have an ability to really fasten on to the net with their forefoot claws, so you need to gently work to release their hold. Once free, holding the monarch horizontally with the wings flat, locate the cell, bordered by wing veins, in the middle of the hind wing. This is called the discal cell, and has a rounded upper edge to it. Tags come in waxed sheets of 25 and need to be protected from the elements. With a tag peeled off the sheet, and care taken not to touch the backing adhesive, center it on the discal cell, press down, and smooth it out evenly using a fingernail. A naturalist makes note of the location, gender and condition of the butterfly, then releases it.