Each October for the past ten year hundreds of 5th and 6th graders have descended on the Fennessy Ranch in Refugio, Texas, to attend Monarch Madness, an event to celebrate the Monarch butterfly and its 2000 mile migration. This year 300 students from five schools arrived at the Ranch on October 24th. While at the Ranch, students attended 10 different stations where they learned about butterflies, birds, conservation and nature in general. Staff from Texas Parks and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas State Aquarium, Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Reserve and A&M Corpus Christi operated the stations.
Texas Coastal Ecological Services staff including Beau Hardegree, Pat Bacak- Clements, Clare Lee, Mary Oms, Kay Scruggs and Chad Stinson operated two of the environmental education stations, Bug Hunt and Birds Up Close. At the Bug Hunt students were given a short presentation on butterfly biology, then equipped with a net and collection container and taken to a nearby field where they collected butterflies. While all butterflies where captured and examined, particular attention was given to Monarchs as they could be tagged as part of the Monarch Watch Program. At the Birds Up Close station student were given instructions on how to correctly use binoculars to identify flora and fauna. Each student was then given the opportunity to use binoculars to identify wildlife around the station. The weather was perfect and the day was enjoyed by all. The programs and activities held at the Fennessy Ranch enabled students to experience nature and also met several Texas state public school requirements.
