"There were thousands of buttflies", was a comment made by one the park service employees on the Blue Ridge Parkway, just 2 days prior to our Butterfly tagging experience hosted by the Nature Center.  Eli Strull, Education Specialist and organizer of the onsite walk-through Butterfly Exhibit as well as the Tagging program, held the reins to this year's tagging event.  He contacted lots of folks in the surrounding counties during the peak migration of the Monarch butterfly, our primary species of study. What was he searching for over the phone?  Information from others as to how many monarchs were being seen in their locations.  Eli struck out on his own to investigate additional sites that are know monarch "hang-outs" during their annual migration south into Florida and eventually onto Mexico.

With two full vans of guests and a few extra cars car pooling behind, the team of youth and adults headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway this year to a clover field that had literally thousands of monarch butterflies feeding on the purple clover flower's nectar to replenish their energy needs the day prior to the trip.  Eli expalins how we strive to match the peak activity and arrive when this species of Lepidoptera (butterfly/moth) is migrating the heaviest through any given area.  "It is a big guessing game and lots of people help us determine the time we should be out investigating and tagging".  Dan Clere, Education and Exhibits Assistant at the Nature Center teamed up with Eli to provide our guests with an experential journey into the world of science, technology, and wildlife management.

The actual tagging method was not complicated.  Capture the butterfly in the netting, firmly yet gently restrain the butterfly, sex it, tag it with a sticky tag, record all the information and release the butterfly back on its way south.  That's cool!  The photos say it all!  Thanks to Kimberly and Jeanne for their permission to use the pitures (see photo gallery)!  Finally, special thanks to the Blue Ridge Parkway staff and volunteers for creating a safe environment for all the human and "non-human" visitors along the parkway!

For more information on this event, call Eli Strull at 298-5600, ext 306 Sunday - Thursday, 10:00am - 5:00pm.