Wednesday, March 1, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Tales from a
Sisters
Naturalist
by Jim Anderson
Journey’s
adventure
Sisters Middle School’s
record-setting monarch but-
terfly “Journey” is back in
the news.
Professor David James, of
Washington State University
in Pullman, Washington,
who issued the numbered
tag placed on the underside
of the butterfly’s hind wing,
is keeping in touch with
researchers in Carpinteria,
California, who originally
reported the butterfly’s
arrival. They went look-
ing for Journey, and found
him among the 30,000 other
monarchs wintering there.
There were no brass bands
playing, “Farewell, Journey”
when science teacher Susie
Werts opened her hand; the
butterfly just jumped into the
air and immediately headed
south, toward the wintering
areas he had never seen in
his life.
The only special equip-
ment Journey has (that we
can see) is larger wings and
stronger flight muscles than
previous monarchs. For some
reason not fully understood,
the last batch of Monarchs
hatched from the eggs of
late summer has larger and
darker orange wings. Perhaps
the melanin in the dark scales
also makes them stronger,
and the combination of
brighter, bigger and stron-
ger wings is what’s required
for the arduous journey; first
south, then in the spring back
north again.
Journey’s trip north will
go only as far as the first
milkweed patch. There, he
and his partner will mate
and she will lay the eggs that
will become the 2017 gen-
eration of monarchs to begin
their voyage to their summer
haunts.
At that moment Journey’s
magnificent adventure will
come to an end. He will have
lived out his long life, made
the voyage south, spent the
winter in the warm climate of
California, started back north
and taken part in the cre-
ation of the new generation
of monarchs that will even-
tually arrive back where he
started his life near Klamath
Falls.
How did Journey know
which way is south? Was
it just chance that he went
south and no other direction?
When we look at the impres-
sive journey monarchs make,
perhaps the answer is “no.”
The strongest suggestion
about Monarch migration
is that it’s instinctive; they
have accumulated a “genetic
memory” that is passed down
through the generations.
It’s a memory that takes
into account the terrain they
fly over and through, such as
mountains, rivers, freeways,
lakes — and obstacles. Once
they arrive in an area that has
no harsh weather condition
that would endanger their
survival, and the position of
the sun fits into that genetic
memory, that becomes a win-
tering site.
There are many more the-
ories to be worked out.
The bottom line is
Journey made it — and set a
record doing it.
Jean Nave, our local chil-
dren’s books author, along
with Werts, is working on a
book about Journey’s adven-
ture. She wrote to Professor
James with her theory as to
the route the butterfly took
going south. This is his
response: “I think you’ve
got the ‘journey’ right until
Sacramento...
“From Sacramento I
would guess he would
have traveled south
through the central valley,
9
PHOTO BY JOE BILLINGS
Sisters Middle Sc2ool teac2er Susie Werts’ monarc2 butterfly,
“Journey,” at 2is winter 2ome in Carpinteria Creek , California.
Stockton-Modesto-Fresno.
Then he crossed the coastal
range at some point —
maybe Highway 41 from
Fresno to Paso Robles? As
well as river valleys, mon-
archs sometimes follow
roads... Presumably this road
goes through a pass. Then he
would find San Luis Obispo
and continue down the coast
to Carpinteria…”
Did Journey actually
know where he was going,
or was it pure chance that
his trek to the safety of the
migrating trees and warmth
ended safely. Who knows?
The bottom line is he made
it, and he will be one of tens
of thousands of other mon-
archs who has played their
part in the preservation of his
species.