When do the tags get sent out the earliest? I have some tags over from this season so I may just use those tags for February as an experiment to see if I can find any butterflies next winter, the only one of my tagged butterflies found from this season was one that was found dead on the footpath. I’ve been to every location I can think of where the butterflies have been over wintering and have spotted any, I’m beginning to think if it’s a waste of time tagging them.
We’ve had a lot of inquiries just lately from people in North America about tagging so I’ve been redirecting them to the people at Monarch Watch.
Here in NZ we tag from autumn onwards (about March) but there’s no point in tagging now, really, as the butterflies are returning from overwintering and laying eggs in various warmer parts of the country – I think people have reported finding eggs in Hamilton, Nelson and Christchurch so far this “season”.
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