Join Flight of the Monarch Day in County’s South Shore
Administrator | Aug 14, 2020 | Comments 2
On Saturday, Aug. 22, communities and organizations across Canada are coming together to celebrate one of North America’s most cherished insects! Flight of the Monarch Day is a brand-new nation-wide event to recognize the iconic monarch butterfly.
Twenty-five years ago, Prince Edward Point was declared an International Monarch Reserve.
“Every August, we start to see these remarkable orange butterflies drifting over the meadows and fields of Prince Edward County’s South Shore,” said Cheryl Anderson. “If we are lucky, we also find their large stripped caterpillars happily munching on delicious milkweed leaves. Amazingly, after these County caterpillars become long distance migratory butterflies they join millions of others in the upland forests of Mexico.”
As part of the national Flight of the Monarch Day, the South Shore Joint Initiative (SSJI) invites the public to celebrate everything Monarch at Ostrander Point Crown Land Block.
“We will participate in the Mission Monarch citizen science program to document the Monarch’s reproductive success in Canada. Citizen science is the practice of public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge. Through citizen science, people share and contribute to data monitoring and collection programs.”
On Saturday Aug. 22 at 2 p.m. well-known County naturalists Terry Sprague and Peter Fuller will be on hand at Ostrander Point Crown Land to help find and identify the butterfly eggs, caterpillars and pupae.
“We will explore the milkweed meadows and view the amazing and beautiful Monarch butterflies up close. As citizen scientists, all of our findings will be documented and become part of the international Mission Monarch database of Monarch field observations,” said Anderson.
The walk will leave from the Moses Hudgin Log House on Ostrander Point Road. To add to the celebration, Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory’s Get Out Kids Club ( www.peptbo.ca/getout.php) will be set up in the yard of the Moses Hudgin Log House offering Monarch themed craft kits to take home.
Everyone is invited to join in this unique opportunity to explore the Crown Land and to be part of a unique citizen science project. For more information and to RSVP please go to www.ssji.ca. Social distancing and hand sanitizing regulations will be followed.
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Unfortunately we do not have benches, but participants are welcome to bring a chair to sit and watch. Probably a good idea to bring water and wear a hat, as well.
Excited to be joining butterfly watchers & citizen scientists this Sat Aug 22. I am bringing my Monarch-loving 88 year old mother ( possibly my 89 year old father). Are there benches for folks to sit while admiring critters?
Thanks