Thursday, September 6, 2007

So Long, Farewell



Today I tagged and released the last monarch butterfly from my monarch ranch. She seemed a little smaller than most of the previous monarchs. I hope she does OK out on her own.


Since the monarch ranch opened in July, I have successfully hatched and released 19 monarch butterflies. Eleven were females and eight were males. I'm not sure if there's any significance to the number of males vs. females, but that's what my tally was.

It was kind of sad to clean out the little ranch and put everything away. I had a lot of fun and learned some new things about raising monarchs from the egg to the caterpillars and then to butterflies. I'm already looking forward to next summer and a bigger, better monarch ranch.

Thanks everyone, for sharing in my monarch ranch project.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

awww, I am going to miss hearing about your wonderful work you have been doing with these guys! Bravo with the tagging and helping with the knowledge in better understand about their migration! You did good this year!

Larry said...

What a great project that was! I don't know if I would have that much commitment-unless I was retired maybe.-Great job!

RuthieJ said...

Hi Tom,
I still have some tags left, so I'm going to see if I can tag any wild-caught monarchs as they're migrating through my backyard in the next week or so.

Hi Larry,
It really didn't take up too much time. They certainly didn't need as much attention as my other pets! The biggest deal was picking enough fresh milkweed leaves every day to keep those hungry caterpillars fed.

Maud said...

Bye,bye monarchs! I have enjoyed reading about your farm very much,and already look forward for next year.

Jayne said...

Wow Ruthie... 19... that's so great! Can't wait to see next year's batch.

Mary said...

Ruthie, sad for the end but there's always next year. It will be even better!

Love that last photo...

Anonymous said...

Sorry the ranch closed for this season, it was so much fun. Jane still has some in her ranch, I think she said seven. The pixs were stunning.
MOM

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

What a cool thing you did for the monarchs! Thanks for taking me along and sharing your knowledge and experience.

entoto said...

Your ranch was so cool. And now you can add "rancher" to your resume. I wonder if there are monarch rodeos? Hmmmm.... ;-)

Thanks for showing us your ranch. Next year will be so interesting.

RuthieJ said...

Hi Maud,
I'm glad you enjoyed the monarch saga. I have big plans for next year already!

Hi Jayne,
I can't remember where I read the article, but there's a high mortality rate for monarch caterpillars in the wild, so I'm glad I was able to raise and release this many.

Hi Mary,
It was kind of sad...I just wanted to sit out there with her till she flew away.
Thank you for the photo compliment.

Hi Mom,
Jane started her ranch a lot later than mine. I'm sure it's keeping her busy yet. Glad you liked the pics.

Hi Lynne,
Thanks for sharing in my adventure. Are you going to try it next summer??

Hi Trixie,
I don't think the monarch rodeos happen till they all get down to Mexico ;-)
Some friends went to Mexico last winter to see monarchs and the pictures were unbelievable.

Cathy said...

Oh my gosh, Ruthie! This is so wonderful . . . . and poignantly tender. You've said goodbye to the last of the brood. You were one great mom :0)

RuthieJ said...

Thanks Cathy, It was a good (but sorta sad) ending to the monarch summer of 2007.