A Monarch Mystery is Ready to be Solved — by Patrick Adair
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Dr. David James, entomologist at Washington State University, is directing research to determine the migratory corridors utilized by monarch butterflies during their fall migration from Idaho (working primarily in Idaho and Oregon this year). After over a decade of releasing thousands of monarchs in Idaho with paper tags, it remains a mystery where Idaho monarchs go. Do they head Southwest to overwintering sites along the California coast, due south into Utah and Arizona, or fly all the way to Mexico? Utilizing a tiny, ultra-light telemetry tracker called the “Blu+ Morpho” we now have the capacity to track monarchs in real time. Learn more about this amazing new technology and how you, on your own smartphone, can track individual monarchs in real time.
Patrick Adair is a corporate attorney actively practicing in Idaho and California. He is founder and CEO of WingsRising, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity that focuses on infield logistical support for scientific research, community education, shovel-in-the-ground restoration of indigenous habitat, and long-term public land preservation. WingsRising is serving as the logistical field support for Dr. James, and this 2026 telemetry project.
Scarabs' new Zoom Czar, Matt Neumann, has created a special link you can click to get to each month's Scarabs session, regardless if the specific meeting ID changes. You should get this link (or it will become visible) if you RSVP here (passcode is 816620). If you attend by phone, you'll need the old-fashioned numerical Zoom code, and anyone doing that should refer to their print newsletter (or, if not a subscribing member, contact us well ahead of time please!). Go to Zoom not long before the meeting starts, otherwise the link may not be active. And if anything about this new system misfires, tell us so we can trouble-shoot for next time!