🏷️ Last fall, thousands of monarchs gathered near Tipton, creating a spectacular migration layover covered with migrating monarch butterflies nectaring on a large stand of blooming golden crownbeard. 🌼 Local farmer Landon Rodgers and his mom, Vickie Rodgers, welcomed Okies for Monarchs and Dr. Emily Geest, Conservation Biologist with the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden, to their property, where volunteers and staff tagged 190 monarchs through the Monarch Watch tagging program to support migration research.
We’re excited to share that multiple monarchs tagged by Oklahoma participants were later recovered at El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary—more than 1,000 miles from their tagging locations.
Tipton tagging event on October 10, 2025:
AJLH493 (female)
AJLH543 (male)
AJLH565 (female)
Additionally, Janet Horner of El Reno had recoveries as well:
ALHT448 (female) tagged September 27, 2025 at Mollie Spencer Farm and traveling 1,111 miles
ALHT491 (female) tagged October 4, 2025 in El Reno, OK and traveling 1,108 miles
Together, these recoveries highlight the remarkable journeys monarchs make from Oklahoma to their overwintering grounds in Mexico, and the importance of community science in tracking and protecting this migration.
Interested in participating this fall?
