Troop 955: Monarch Madness, Fall 2009
On Sept. 12 the girls of Troop 955 participated in the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge’s annual “Monarch Madness” butterfly capture and tagging program. Our Park Ranger Cheryl taught us how to best capture a butterfly (wait until it lands!), how to tell whether a butterfly is male or female, and how to distinguish monarchs from viceroy butterflies. She also said that because of cool summer conditionss, the peak monarch migration had actually come through Neal Smith the prior week or two, but our group (along with other volunteers) still managed to capture and tag 60 butterflies!
In the process, we got a sense of what it must have been like for the pioneers and American Indians to make their way through this tangled sea of grass. The prairie grasses were so tall the only way we could find each other was by following the sound of voices or looking for butterfly nets held high above the grass. We figured out pretty fast it was a lot easier to follow someone else's path whenever possible, we leaned it's NOT cool and shady down in the grass (it's REALLY hot and humid), and we found out it's surprisingly difficult to make your way through that web of grasses, plants and shrubs without catching your feet and landing on your face!
