Monarch Butterflies Are Focus Of Festival At Local Arboretum
By Lynne Adkins
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Tyler Arboretum in Media, Delaware County will hold its annual butterfly festival on August 24th. A highlight of the event will be monarch tagging.
The dozens of monarch butterflies currently housed at Tyler Arboretum will be set free for their long journey to spend the winter in Mexico. But, Betsey Ney, director of public programs says before the trip, the butterflies are tagged for identification.
"There's little, small, adhesive, pre-printed sticky labels," she says. "It's only about a quarter-inch round label that we peel off and stick on a certain part of the butterfly wing so it's not unbalanced."
Anyone spotting the insect along the way can update it's location on a website printed on the label.
"In the spring, they will migrate back to the continental U.S., Ney says. "Their first stop is generally Texas or Louisiana. They get something to eat and they lay their eggs and another generation comes back farther, and generally we get the third generation back."
The festival also features games, crafts and other bug related activities. It runs from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday, August 24th.
