Lauren Miller-Donnelly firmly grasped a bright orange monarch by the wings so it couldn’t fly away. A group of 12 people watched as she then attached a sticker to the butterfly’s wing at the Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary.

The sanctuary is participating in the Monarch Watch, a program operated by University of Kansas researchers to monitor the migration pattern of monarch butterflies. In late September to early October, the butterflies migrate to Mexico to escape the cold New England winters, and researchers want to learn more about their migration pattern. Each sticker contains a code, which records where each butterfly is tagged and spotted. Those who find the butterflies can call a phone number to record where they end up.

“The number one thing people learn [though monarch tagging] is how to better explore our insect life,” Miller-Donnelly said.

At the monarch tagging event on September 27, Miller-Donnelly invited the community to help support the research program by catching and tagging monarch butterflies at the sanctuary. About 12 people of all ages gathered to help.

“One thing that makes our sanctuary unique is that monarchs migrate here,” Miller-Donnelly said, making the sanctuary a perfect place to catch a large amount of butterflies to tag.

Miller-Donnelly taught her volunteer butterfly catchers all about the butterflies themselves, and how to catch them. She said the best method of catching them is with a large butterfly net, and waiting until a monarch lands on a flower. Then, trap it using the net, and wait about a minute for the butterfly to fly into the net. She also trained the taggers on how to pick up and hold a butterfly.

Commotion started as Miller-Donnelly led the butterfly hunters onto the beach and the first monarch was spotted. Aidan DaSilva volunteered to go catch it, and excitedly ran back to the group with the butterfly in his net.

After catching and tagging about three butterflies, the team called it a day and headed back to the main entrance of the sanctuary. Before leaving, each person found a milkweed plant that had a caterpillar living on it, and took it home to raise it.

The event proved to be a hit among those who attended.

“I had to go very slowly when I was catching butterflies,” said Nick Mourao.

“I really liked finding the caterpillars,” added Holland Sonnenburg.

Those that missed the first monarch tagging program still have a chance to get in on the fun. Allens Pond will be hosting three more tagging events: October 1 and October 2, 11 a.m.–2 p.m., and October 4, 4–5:30 p.m., weather dependent. For more information and to register, visit massaudubon.org.