Wichita Falls residents encouraged to document monarch butterflies during migration

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - A local nature chapter is encouraging Wichita Falls residents to help spot monarch butterflies as they pass through Texoma on their way to Mexico for the winter.

The goal is simple: get people outside and looking.

Penny Miller has been doing just that for more than two decades as one of the original members of the Rolling Plains Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists. She now serves as the chapter’s president.

Scientists can use the information volunteers upload to conduct their own research, Miller said.

One of the projects the chapter is assisting with is Project Monarch. For years, volunteers have tagged monarch butterflies to help researchers track their migration.

This year, some butterflies will also carry tiny radio transmitters.

Residents can download the Project Monarch app and scan for butterflies migrating through the area to see if they are carrying one of the transmitters.

The data can help researchers better understand the routes monarchs take to Mexico and how weather, geography and other conditions may affect their journey.

Miller said residents don’t have to go far to look for monarchs.

“The absolute best place that we found for tagging in town is Lake Wichita Park,” Miller said. “Okay, right along the water.”

But residents don’t have to find a monarch to contribute to scientific research.

The chapter is also encouraging people to use iNaturalist, an app that allows users to photograph and document plants, animals and other signs of life.

Bennie Hamilton recently tried the app for the first time.

“So I downloaded it and then I hit log in, then my Gmail went in there and I logged in. And then I took a picture of a plant and then I was part of science,” Hamilton said.

Miller said observations submitted through iNaturalist can eventually become part of a much larger database used by researchers.

“There would be a lot less information out there. And now you have millions of people making millions of observations and loading that in there so they can pull out a lot of information,” Miller said.

Both Project Monarch and iNaturalist are available as free apps. Residents can use them to search for monarchs and document other plants, animals and signs of life throughout the area.