Yes, scientists have been trying for decades to come up with an electronic tracking device for the monarch. Unfortunately, all these efforts have failed for two principal reasons: First, they have relied on battery power. This source of power has been too heavy. To make a battery small enough, its power lasts only a few minutes. Second, with such a small window of battery life, there has been the challenge of locating receiving units in just the right locations to be within broadcast range of the transmitter while the battery is still operational. Both difficulties, taken together, have kept electronic tracking of monarchs out of reach. Paper tagging has continued to be the only way to track monarchs up to the present day.

TWO technological breakthroughs make the Blu+ revolutionary and different. First, the Blu+ no longer uses a battery to provide power. Instead, it is powered by a tiny solar panel. As long as the sun is out, the tracker will broadcast its location and other identifying data every 1-5 seconds. Second, the Blu+ broadcasts on the same frequency range as the Bluetooth technology built into everyone’s smartphone. That means, in practical terms, every smartphone that has its “location services” or “Bluetooth” systems activated by their owners, is capable of picking up the transmission of the data from any Blu+ transmitter passing by. It then retransmits that data instantly.

No, nothing confidential is transmitted. Another name for this function (which may be more familiar) is called “crowd sourcing.” People often use crowd sourcing without even knowing it, when they use google maps (or other mapping applications) or when they get warnings of a traffic accident up ahead. In some parts of the country, people use crowd sourcing to check whether their favorite restaurant is too busy based on the number of phones located at the restaurant.

No. Crowd sourcing phones will pick up and retransmit the data from passing monarchs without interrupting the phone’s general operations. What the Project Monarch App allows, for those who have downloaded it, is to make possible the viewing of individual monarchs and to keep track of specific monarchs by name. It also allows a person to actively scan and upload data on monarchs in their geographical area.

This varies depending on the receiver being used. If the receiver is a MOTUS wildlife tower, it may pick up a transmission from as far away as two kilometers. However, most mobile phones pick up the transmission if the passing monarch is within 100 yards (or a typical football field) from them.

As long as the Blu+ receives sun, it will continue to transmit data. Migratory monarchs live 8-10 months typically. That is plenty of time for scientists to learn specific information about the monarch’s migratory corridors. This question poses an interesting question in terms of whether the Blu+ can be recovered and reused. The answer to that question is yes (if it can be found). Today, in the Mexico Monarch Biosphere Preserve many residents look for monarchs that are tagged. When they find one, they are paid US$5.00 for turning it in to benefit scientific research. There is little doubt that these residents will now also be on the lookout for Blu+ E-tags.

Yes, it definitely can. The Blu+ fits nicely on the backs of hummingbirds and new information is being learned about the activities of these tiny creatures. Also Blu+ trackers have been placed on large Bumblebees with similar results.

That was the central question the engineers who developed the Blu+ transmitter had when they did their beta testing: Would the Blu+ transmitter be too heavy for the monarch? They released 400 monarchs in various locations in the eastern United States. When several monarchs successfully reached the Monarch Biosphere Reserve in central Mexico, these engineers had their answer. The monarch has remarkably strong wing capacity! Some monarchs from this earliest release have even flown beyond the central preserve to overwintering sites farther south. The human equivalent to this weight-ratio would be a 180-pound man or woman carrying a backpack weighing 20 pounds.

Scientists do not know the answer to this question yet. There are many answers yet to be learned. Does the transmitter shorten or lengthen the life span of the monarch carrying it (or does it have no effect at all)? Does it affect other monarchs around it? Does it influence reproductive activity? Does it impact the monarch’s hydration or nutrition, and whether the monarch remains strong enough to begin the northern migration once again in the spring.

Yes, you have identified an important issue. Finding monarchs in the wild is an increasingly challenging problem. In the spring each year, our volunteers begin their search for evidence of monarchs along their migratory journey into the Pacific Northwest. Once we find a monarch, at any level of development (egg, larva, chrysalis, or adult) we capture those migratory monarchs and bring them to our propagation farm in northern Idaho where we care for them. Historically, this process usually results in the capture of 3-4 separate DNA lines of monarchs from Idaho and Oregon. Then, taking care to always pair monarchs from different genetic lines, we raise one or two generations of monarchs outside on live milkweed plants, taking care to sanitize the eggs to eliminate Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (“Oe”) to insure healthy monarchs for the migration back south in the fall. In this way, we produce sufficient progeny from migrating monarch genetic lines to have increased numbers for scientific tagging purposes in the fall.

About $200.00 each, plus an approximate $25.00 network fee.

Absolutely! The home page has three monarchs flying along a metered gauge. The male and female monarchs that are already named are meant for community participation. You can donate $1.00 to as much as you feel comfortable doing. As you and others donate, the monarch will fly along the metered gauge until it hits $200.00, then the monarch will fly off and take its place with other adopted monarchs, fully funded and ready to fly. The third monarch is for those who can afford to fund the full $200.00 or more. For those who can make this generous donation to fully adopt a monarch, they can also name their own monarch. When this is done, this monarch will take flight and go roost with those other adopted monarchs that are ready to carry transmitters in the summer of 2026.

No. It is hoped that monarchs will be E-tagged in Oregon as well. In a separate effort, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (“WDFW”) plans to implement an E-tag program in Washington state (if its capture and release goals can be achieved). Regarding Oregon, depending on the number of donations we receive to purchase Blu+ transmitter units, we may also tag and release in Oregon as well. The greatest mystery, however, is where monarchs migrate from Idaho so this will remain our primary focus.

This, again, depends on the number of units we can fund. If possible, we would like to also E-tag monarchs in the spring as they migrate into the Pacific Northwest from California’s overwintering sites.

Yes, to do everything Dr. James wants to do, our goal is to fund 100 units.

As of the writing of this answer, 20 units have been fully funded. Check the home page and Sponsor page for the current number of units that have been funded.