Contribute to two Community Science Projects Monarch Watch and Bumble Bee atlas  on September 21, 2024 by catching and documenting Monarchs and Bumble Bees. People of all ages and abilities are invited to Kearney Outdoor Learning Area (KOLA) South of Kearney High School from 1-4 for a family-friendly event. Nets and other equipment will be provided, and no prior experience is required. Rowe Sanctuary staff will demonstrate the basics of surveying bumblebees including learning how to use an insect net to catch bumblebees and Monarchs, identify, and collect data according to project methods. We recommend participants wear long pants and closed-toe shoes, insect repellent, sunscreen, and bring a water bottle!

Monarch Watch

Monarch Watch is a large-scale and long-range tagging community science project, that tags migrating monarch butterflies on their southward journey to their wintering grounds in Mexico helping to answer questions about the origins of monarch that reach Mexico, the timing and pace of the migration, mortality during the migration and changes it in geographic distribution.

Participants will help catch monarch butterflies and tag them with small lightweight coded stickers, record the coded information, identify the gender of the butterfly all before releasing them back into the wild to continue their migration South. When done correctly, the stickers do not harm or impede the monarchs. People then report if they have found a tagged butterfly, which helps researchers to learn more about population numbers and migration patterns of this species.

The more we know, the more we can help

The data collected about the monarchs and bumble bee will be used to guide our decision-making supporting not only healthy monarch and bumble bee populations, but all the organisms that provide all species the has the best chance of surviving.