In the past, tracking a tagged monarch butterfly depended on chance, with someone discovering the small sticker on the insect’s wing and reporting it along the migration path.
This year, Nature NB has introduced innovative technology that eliminates the need for luck.
Collaborating with the Saint John Naturalist Club, Point Lepreau Bird Observatory, and Environment and Climate Change Canada, the organization has fitted monarchs with Bluetooth-enabled tags for the first time in New Brunswick.
Francie Morgan, program coordinator at Nature NB, expressed enthusiasm for this new development in monarch conservation efforts in the Maritimes.
Francie Morgan holds a monarch fitted with a BluMorpho tag ahead of its release. (Submitted by Francie Morgan)
The BluMorpho tags, powered by solar energy and weighing a mere 0.066 grams, are attached to the butterfly’s thorax using a small amount of eyelash glue, with a slim antenna running down the abdomen.
Unlike traditional wing tags that rely on physical recapture for data collection, theBluMorpho tags operate through passive Bluetooth interactions.
Individuals with Bluetooth enabled on their smartphones will automatically record a data point when they come within 100 meters of a tagged monarch.
The BluMorpho tag weighs about 0.066 grams and is attached with a dab of eyelash glue. Details including capture time and sex are recorded before release. (Submitted by Francie Morgan)
“Download the Project Monarch app, scan for these tags and follow along on the journey of these monarchs,” Morgan encouraged.
Jim Wilson, a birder and naturalist at the Point Lepreau Bird Observatory who has experience tagging butterflies, emphasized the significance of this shift.
Wilson explained that the previous method involved placing a numbered wing tag and hoping for a sighting or report between the starting point and Mexico. The new approach provides real-time tracking online.
Jim Wilson, Jean Wilson and Janet Kempster carefully tag a monarch at Point Lepreau Bird Observatory. (Submitted by Francie Morgan)
Last year, the technology was first utilized on monarchs in Canada through a collaboration between Environment and Climate Change Canada and Birds Canada in southern Ontario.
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