b-fly releases at events

[Paul Cherubini]

I wrote:

> What is the realistic probability that one of the few Lepidopterists in
> Fairbanks area is ever going to spot one of these short lived [Painted Lady]
> butterflies [released by schools] and cause a false sighting to be entered 
> into the biogeograhical sight record database?

Ken Philip replied:

"There is _one_ lepidopterist in Fairbanks--and in 1986 I obtained
a _V. cardui_ on Ester Dome, near Fairbanks. The only other specimens
obtained by the Alaska Lepidoptera Survey (in 30 years) were 4 specimens
from Ketchikan, in SE Alaska."After 33 years of intensive collecting and observation in the
Fairbanks area, I can safely say that _V. cardui_ here is _very rare_,
and it wouldn't take many released individuals to swamp the migrants."

Ken, it sounds like you have not spotted any more Painted Ladies in the Fairbanks area 
during the past 13 years (since 1986) despite continued releases by the 19 elementary 
schools in the Fairbanks area. The pro-release community could view this as evidence that 
the chances that school released specimens will ever be spotted by lepidopterists are 
extremely small.

Ken wrote:

> I have wondered, ever since hearing a fascinating paper in Ottawa in 1986,  
> whether the migration tracks of Monarchs might actually have nothing to
> do with genetic variation, but rather merely reflect the effect of the 
> starting point on some fixed behavior pattern.

Ken, available evidence suggests your latter hypothesis is correct.

In 1964, 800 monarchs from Toronto, Canada were tagged and shipped to Reno, Nevada 
for release in September. Three were recaptured along the California coast in October and 
November in the vicinity of California monarch overwintering sites - these eastern monarchs 
obviously did head in the direction of Mexico as one would expect if, in fact, eastern 
monarchs are genetically programmed to do so.

In 1972, Donald Davis, (who is subscribed to this list) shipped over 1000 Toronto 
monarchs to Vancouver, British Columbia.in August and September. I recaptured two of 
them, alive and clustering with our California monarchs, at overwintering roosts near San 
Francisco, California in October and November - again demonstrating genetics is not 
involved much, if at all, in the control of migration tracks.

In Sept. 1973 I shipped hundreds of tagged California monarchs to North Dakota for 
release. Three were recaptured - at Omaha, Nebraska, Pratt, Kansas and Dwight, Kansas - 
exactly the "path" eastern monarchs take to Mexico.

This is all published information in science journals - BUT, Jeff Glassberg, Bob Pyle, Paul 
Opler and Tuttle obviously chose to ignore it when they wrote:

"Now imagine tens of thousands of mixed-up Monarchs unable to find the way to their 
overwintering grounds. This depressing image may become a reality if the rapidly-growing 
fad of releasing butterflies, including Monarch butterflies, at weddings, state fairs, and other 
public events continues to spread. Because the released Monarchs may have come from 
California, for instance, where they do not migrate to Mexico, their offspring may not  be 
able to orient properly"

In this way, these Ph.D. scientists and lep leaders have (seemingly intentionally) been 
giving the public and government regulators an incomplete, distorted view of monarch 
migration biology. 

Paul Cherubini, Placerville, California