MILWAUKEE — The public is invited to help monarch butterflies begin their 2,000-mile migration to Mexico from the shores of Lake Michigan on Labor Day.
Villa Terrace Museum & Gardens is hosting its 7th annual monarch butterfly release and celebration. Visitors can learn about the butterflies’ life cycle and annual journey, and even take part in tagging monarchs before they’re released.
“Monarchs leave by the hundreds if not thousands in this one-week period, and they all arrive in the mountains of Angangueo on or about November 1st,” Villa Terrace volunteer and citizen scientist Shelly Culea told WTMJ. “It’s like clockwork.”
Culea spends her summer rearing monarchs from eggs gathered from in the Wisconin wild in preparation for the Labor Day event. Raising monarchs increases their chance of surival — in the wild, only one in 100 eggs survives to become a butterfly.
Monarch caterpillars can only eat the leaves of milkweed, making them especially vulnerable to habitat loss and herbicides.
“They are truly the epitome of the hungry capterpillar,” Villa Terrace Board Member and Garden Chair Ellen Irion told WTMJ. “The amount of leaves that they go through is absolutley amazing.”
Villa Terrace’s pollinator garden has dozens of wildflower species, including some of the 12 milkweed species native to Wisconsin. Monday’s event will include information on ways to help monarchs by planting their food sources.
“I call it the Hollywood of the pollinators because if you have food for monarchs, you are providing habitat for bees, every type of butterfly, even native ladybugs which are so rare,” Culea said.
Before carefully tagging the discal cell of a monarch’s hindwing on Monday, visitors can learn about the UNESCO Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico where millions of butterflies congregate for the winter. Tagged monarchs found in Mexico after their long migration get sent to the University of Kansas Monarch Watch research program.
Villa Terrace’s museum and gardens are open through the rest of September, Thursday through Sunday 11 a.m. — 4 p.m. Admission is free on garden closing day, Sept. 28 from 11 a.m. — 3 p.m.
