PRAIRIE CITY, Iowa — Monarch butterflies make a pit stop at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge on their migration journey to Mexico.

Millions of monarch butterflies migrate from Canada to Mexico on a nearly 3,000 mile journey. Along the way, they stop at Neal Smith which provides a space for them to rest and eat milkweed to fuel up for the trip.

When they reach the refuge, workers tag the monarchs to get data on travel patterns, percentage of monarchs that make the entire trip, and ones that don’t. When the refuge tags the monarchs, other stopping locations from Iowa to Mexico will look for the tags that have a specific number, and record that for surveys.

On Saturday, Neal Smith held what they call “Monarch Madness.” This gives the public the opportunity to come and catch a monarch, tag it with assistance from a staff member, then release it back on its journey.

The tag is a small, circular dot that is placed on the wing. It does not affect the flying pattern or hurt the butterfly.

Tenlea Turner is a retired monarch monitoring coordinator, and now she helps volunteer at Monarch Madness and the tagging process. Turner had the unique, once in a lifetime experience to take a trip to Mexico where the monarch butterflies end their journey. She described her experience and the tagging process.

For more information on monarch butterflies at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, you can visit this link.