They have a wire cage that is set on a platform eye level high. The feeder that is used most by the bird they are trying to catch is placed inside the cage near where the feeder would hang. The door to the cage is tripped by a line of fishing line when the bird flies in. Then they catch the bird and place it in a mesh bag. It is weighed, tail, beak, and wing measurements taken as well as the sex and weight. A dot of pink paint(some type) is put on the head so that if the bird returns in the cage (and some do) then they know it has been caught already and it is just allowed to feed and leave. Then it is banded and released. Doesn't take long at all and is amazing to watch. I had one banded in Jan. and another bander is coming today to try to band the 4 I have now in my yard. One is suspected to be a Rufous and the others are Ruby-throated. We have another lady in town who has a half dozen in her yard and a guy with about the same. A friend of mine has a Rufous and another guy in a town about a half hour away had over a dozen banded in Jan and another half dozen now that are not banded. The banders are trying to determine if the migrating path has come further south than once and if we in Central Florida are now getting resident year round birds. Really interesting stuff and fills the void for us who don't have them in the summer when the butterflies are around.

No,Pam I didn't get perturbed, simply because of the sincerity of everyone involved and believe it or not there are those that think losing the Mona Lisa would be worse than losing the Monarchs. I'm just happy to know that there are those that are trying to do something to stabilize the future of these beauties. And I want to do my part. Tdog, where do you send the money to plant the trees? NOW, what REALLY makes me mad is the cutting of the forest by ignorant people. First of all they are breaking the law and furthermore if they were given the opportunity to make a honest living I don't think they would. And what about the people that DO make a living off the butterflies. Do they care about what would happen to them if the butterflies didn't attract tourist and promote the local economy. And (forgive me for going off) but do they have any respect for the souls of their ancestors? No. So are they any different than any common murderer or thief? Eye for eye, I say they should be hunted down they same way they hunt the local people down that are trying to enforce the LAW. I guess I should stop writing now, as I know I have probably offended some of you but I just had to get this off my chest. Butterflutter

I did. Excellent presentation of the Monarch's migration south from Northern Canada to the Mexican forests. They emphasized that Oklahoma and Texas are major corridors for the migration. Sigh....so glad to be here in Oklahoma. Also showed how fraught with danger the journey is, especially south across the Great Lakes. How do they have the energy stores to accomplish that? One study out of KU's Monarch Watch showed that butterflies raised in Kansas, and relocated to I think it was New York, first flew south but then corrected their path back to the southwest. Somehow they "knew" intrinsically the direction to fly in order to reach Texas for the final leg of the flight to Mexico. Isn't that amazing? So, it's not just a regional thing. How they khow where to migrate is just a mysterious, beautiful thing to me. They also demonstrated the ravaged forests where illegal logging has devastated so much of their overwintering grounds. Begging the big question, how will the Monarchs survive if trees that sustain them over winter are gone, or if they will survive at all. Of course, no one knows that yet. It showed how crop dusting is killing them, as well as many predators (altho a bird will only taste once and not touch them again due to their toxicity), encroachment and destruction of prairies and wetlands. The native Hispanic population is afraid of the loggers because they are extremely dangerous (gun weilding frightening folks I understand who will kill them if approached) so they don't try to seek them out for their owh safety. The people in the villages have a huge celebration upon arrival of the Monarchs, because they belive they bring with them the souls of their departed ancestors to them. It is called the Day of the Dead. It is amazing to see them come in, millions at a time, to literally coat the fir trees. Such a spectacular event. They stay there for 5 months before making the return journey to south Texas, where they lay eggs and die, the next generation flies north as far as Canada, where the second and third generation are born, and the fourth occurs on the way south, where those individuals will make the entire journey back to Mexico. I had some Monarchs roost overnight on their way south to in the fall one year, in my elm tree in the backyard. The trees literally looked alive. It is miraculous to me. Susan Here is a link that might be useful: Monarch Journey of the Butterflies

The program was wonderful and so informative. I knew that Monarchs migrated with different generations going only part of the way, but didn't really understand the specifics. As a child my brother and I "raised" them with milkweed in jars then got to see the crysallises (sp?)form and eventually release the butterflies. It was something I will never forget. When I was in elementary school a large group of migrating monarchs stopped for several days in a group of trees along Lake Whitney, near our very small school. The teachers loaded buses up and we got to go see the hundreds and hundreds of butterflies in this group of trees. What a sight! Thanks for the reminder about the program!