Monarch Tagging with Des Moines Parks and Recreation

Children and their caregivers can learn about the monarch butterflies in this special event with Parks and Recreation! Kids can participate in a butterfly obstacle course, learn how butterflies consume nectar, view how butterflies are tagged and watch as they are released. For youth ages 5 and up. 

"Most people know what a monarch butterfly is but they do not always know that the number of monarch butterflies in the wild has been dropping drastically since the mid-1990s. The tagging programs are a local part of a larger citizen science project that has been going on since 1992 to better understand the dynamics of the monarch’s spectacular fall migration. Each year more than a quarter of a million tags are used by volunteers across North America who tag monarchs as they migrate through their area on their way to Mexico."