Sturgeon Bay, Wis. (September 4, 2025) – On Sunday, September 7 starting at 2:00 pm, the local Wild Ones Chapter will again offer their Monarch Tagging Day at Crossroads at Big Creek. Crossroads has hosted this free family-friendly program for decades, but during the past few years, we have been a bit late for the amazing annual migration through the Door Peninsula.
The presenter, Naturalist Karen Newbern will present a slide program in the Collins Learning Center lecture hall featuring the latest research on the monarch butterflies and then, using cage-raised butterflies, demonstrate tagging techniques.
We have seen many caterpillars and monarchs in Door County this month, but what we are hoping, by selecting the later date, to experience is the phenomenal monarch migration.
This time of year, thousands monarchs from the central provinces of Canada and Michigan’s UP gather and roost on the Stonington Peninsula, a small finger of land dividing Big Bay de Noc and Little Bay de Noc.
When the weather conditions are just right – wind direction, temperature, and mild weather, using Rock Island, Washington Island as “stepping stones” waves of butterflies float into the Door Peninsula where they rest and “nectar” before following the shoreline on their 2000 mile journey to a mountain forest in Mexico.
On several occasions in the past, Monarch Tagging Day has been coincided with a huge influx of these beautiful creatures…and on three occasions, monarch which were tagged at Crossroads recovered in Mexico.
The program is free and appropriate for all ages. Wild Ones will provide equipment and tags. The event will be held at the Collins Learning Center, Crossroads, 2041 Michigan, in Sturgeon Bay.
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