Cantigny Park, and Monarch Tagging

Love to go to Cantigny Park in Winfield.

There are always new exhibits set up around the gardens.

At the time these were taken there was a yellow chair

exhibit.  It was interesting to say the least.

They are doing a lot of remodeling currently.

I love walking through the gardens and seeing the beautiful
display of flowers and trees.  

In one area they have flowers that bloom in different seasons, it is
referred to as as  Sensory Garden.
There is a small pond that water lilies and lotus blossoms bloom.

The frogs were quite active.

Love to work on my photography skills.

Flowers and birds have been passions for a long time.

Zinnias are one of my favorite flowers in the summer.

Have never seen petunias like these.  Maybe next spring I well try to find some.

I found out there are several types of milkweed.
As long as I was going to find out how they "tag" Monarch
Butterflies, this was a good thing to learn.

Got to see a few Hummingbirds that were still in the area.

These tiny birds are fascinating to watch and "try" to photograph.

There was a going to be a lecture about how to tag the butterflies.

They brought about 20 of them for the demonstration.
They were in a special cage for transporting.

There were quite a few people that had been signed to attend the lecture,
adults and children.  Good to start them young.

A lot of information was given as well as milkweed seeds
to be planted for next year.  The Monarch loves milkweed.
Our teacher told how they have been able to see how far
a Monarch travels in the early fall.  

She had maps and displays that showed the life cycle, and how
they traveled.  The children that were there had the
opportunity to use a butterfly net, to see if they could catch
their own to tag.  The area around there was prime for
the Monarch.

She showed how to delicately hold a butterfly, and how to tell the
difference between a male and a female.
(The male has a black dot on their wing)

There is a place on the wing where a small dot can be placed.  It will
stay on the wing for the whole flight.

After one of the butterflies was released it do not go very far, and I could get a
picture of where it was placed. What an interesting lecture.
I had wondered how they could track them.
There are always things to be learned.

One more picture of a flower.  This is a close
up of a dahlia.

Mary