Macon students celebrate monarch migration
The cooler temperatures of October signify the changing seasons and the start of migration for many species.
Every autumn, millions of monarch butterflies make the 3,000-mile trek from their breeding grounds in eastern North America to the warmer climates of Mexico where they will spend the next four to five months in hibernation. Along their journey, many will make an appearance in Western North Carolina thanks to conservation and protection efforts. For the last 13 years, sixth graders in Macon County have participated in the Migration Celebration at Tessentee Bottomland Preserve to understand how organisms prepare for winter.
Roughly 350 students from Mountain View Intermediate and Nantahala schools traveled last week to the preserve site, located in Otto and owned by Mainspring Conservation Trust. The four-day field trip from Oct. 11-14 was sponsored by Macon County Schools STEM and tied into the sixth grade science and social studies curriculum this semester. Partnerships with Mainspring Conservation Trust, Highlands Biological Station, Highlands Biological Foundation, Blue Ridge Bird Observatory and Bigelow’s Botanical Excursions provided hands-on activities for students to learn more about phenology, the study of seasonal biological events like migration, egg laying, flowering, and hibernation.
“They’re participating in real-world citizen science,” said STEM Coordinator Jennifer Love. “Local experts are out here working with them to collect data through butterfly and bird inventory, as well as teaching them about environmental careers in our region.”
The main attraction was monarch tagging with Jason Love, associate director of Highlands Biological Station. Here, students had the opportunity to catch, tag and release monarch butterflies. Once caught, the students identified whether each was male or female and placed a tag on the hindwing. The students gingerly held the butterflies with some making their way onto students’ noses or in their hair before taking to the sky. Love also taught them about migration patterns, lifespan and the role conservation plays in protecting their habitat and food sources.
“Monarch numbers have been on a steady decline over the past decade,” he explained. “This is largely due to the over-use of pesticides like Roundup, which is more aggressive in battling weeds and saving crops in the Midwest. Unfortunately, one of the weeds it kills is the milkweed plant, the host plant for monarch caterpillars. If there’s no milkweed, there’s no monarchs.”
Native perennials help promote future generations of many species. While monarchs need milkweed, other species of butterfly have their own plant or group of plants they feed on. In Macon County alone, there are more than 100 species of native butterflies.
“This is why it’s important, and we always encourage people to plant native,” Love said.
Tessentee Bottomland Preserve is rich in biodiversity. The list of resident butterflies is 56 and counting, and over 129 species of migrant and resident birds inhabit the area. The valley is a thriving avian community and is site number 53 on the North Carolina Birding Trail’s Mountain Guide. Southern Appalachian Raptor Research and Blue Ridge Bird Observatory spent the week catching and releasing birds for inventory, tagging each with a small metal leg band. Bird banding helps researchers understand migration behaviors, survival rate and population growth.
Other activities during the field trip allowed students to identify native plants, analyze food sources for birds and play games about how conservation and land development affect migration patterns. The phenology of different species is all connected in cyclical nature and dependent upon each other for survival. The data collected during this trip helps local and regional environmental experts better protect our most precious natural resources.
