K/1 Students Explode!

September 25, 2009

Sept. 21st brought SVCA K/1 students their first close up look at a Monarch butterfly that emerged around eight o'clock.
On Tuesday we had 2 more butterflies emerge. I am sure the whole building heard the K/1 classroom EXPLODE with excitement on Wednesday when we had not one, but three more butterflies emerge all within an hour. We have had a total of one male and five female butterflies.

This is a male butterfly. You can see the two black spots on its hindwings.

It is pretty easy to tell a male monarch from a female monarch when you know what to look for. The males have two distinct black spots on their hindwings. The female monarchs appear to have thicker black lines than males.
We purchased tags from KU Monarch watch program to be placed on our butterflies. If the butterfly is recovered the tag gives an email address and a phone number to relay information about where the butterfly was

First butterfly K/1 tagged as part of the KU Monarch watch program.

found so questions can be answered about the fall migration of the Monarch butterfly population east of the Rocky Mountains.
The tags are no bigger than a pencil eraser and each tag has a set of three letters and three numbers to help identify each butterfly. K/1 students did not like the idea of calling each butterfly a number so they started naming them. We now have Morgan, Grace, Princess,Jewels, Shawn and Vincent Jr. . The tag is placed over the large, mitten shaped cell (discal cell) on the underside of the hindwing of the butterfly. It took Mrs. Franklin, Mrs. Dickerson and myself working together to put the first tag on our butterfly.
We also purchased a nectar mix from Monarch Watch to feed to our butterflies. The monarch web site explains the process to help encourage the butterfly to feed. We were to place the front feet into the solution and the butterfly might unwind the long feeding tube (proboscis) and start feeding. If the butterfly did not unwind its feeding tube after several tries, we were to place a pin in the loop of the proboscis and pull the pin away from the head so the proboscis unwinds and touches the honey solution. Once the proboscis is in the nectar solution, the butterfly is feeding.
When we introduced the first butterfly to the nectar he did not start to feed on his own but after following the suggestions of the website the butterfly soon started to feed.
We now have a total of 6 butterflies that we will release on Thursday, but still have many more to come.