International Monarch Monitoring Blitz
The International Monarch Monitoring Blitz invites community scientists from across North America to come together with the shared goal of helping to protect and conserve the beloved and emblematic monarch butterfly. Data collected by volunteers each year support trinational efforts to better understand the monarch butterfly’s breeding productivity, range, and timing in North America.
This year’s Blitz took place between 28 July and 6 August 2023. You can learn more about the results of this trinational effort, here.
Highlights from the 2023 International Monarch Monitoring Blitz:
We are celebrating seven years of Community Science with very encouraging results from this year’s Monarch Blitz! Here are some highlights from the 2023 trinational effort:
- 3,998 observations
- 1,789 participants from 76 states and provinces
- 13,222 monarchs observed
- 40,616 examined milkweeds
See our full statement, and learn how you can download Blitz Data, here.
Summary of the last seven editions (2017-2023) of the International Monarch Monitoring Blitz, a community science initiative:
- 9,122 participants across Canada, Mexico, and the United States
- 20,205 observations
- 322,253 milkweed plants monitored
- 112,803 monarchs observed
- 42,846 eggs
- 37,582 caterpillars
- 2,245 chrysalises
Facts about the Monarch
- Monarch butterflies weigh less than a gram.
- There are two recognized migratory routes in North America: Eastern and Western.
- Migration covers 3,000-5,000 km (2,000 to 3,000 miles) and spans three countries.
- The Eastern migratory population has declined by more than 80% in 20 years.
- The Western population has declined by 99% since the 1980s.
- Everyone can help the monarch butterfly by participating in community science, creating monarch-friendly habitats, and spreading the word about the monarchs’ status and importance as a pollinator.
Image courtesy of Amy Evoniuk Photography.
Participation
The 2023 International Monarch Monitoring Blitz was a great example of community science participation and collaboration across North America. The results have also been showcased through the CEC’s MapMonday initiative which highlights North American geospatial data, especially in relation to the CEC’s North American Environmental Atlas.
Why Community Science?
The information collected by North American community science observers helps researchers identify priority areas for monarch conservation actions. Thanks to this engaged community of observers, monarch researchers will soon be able to analyze trends in summer breeding population sizes. All partner organizations have agreed to share volunteer-collected data to a central data repository. In this way, anyone can consult and download Blitz data by visiting the TRINATIONAL MONARCH KNOWLEDGE NETWORK.
Volunteer participation and the engagement of volunteers grows year after year, and experts believe that the Monarch Blitz database, made up almost exclusively of observations shared by volunteer community scientists, will achieve the original objective set for the Monarch Blitz by the Trinational Monarch Conservation Science Partnership: a rigorous estimation of the size of the summer breeding population, similar to what is done with the overwintering populations in central Mexico and coastal California.
Furthermore, researchers are interested in assessing population trends. Reporting the number of caterpillars and the number of milkweed stems can allow the calculation of a caterpillar-to-milkweed ratio. Researchers can then use this ratio to estimate the size of the population of monarchs that are migrating to Mexico at this time of year.
Which Community Science Program is Right for You?
Participating in the Monarch Blitz requires you to simply track your observations of the monarch butterfly. If you spot a monarch egg, caterpillar, and/or adult or milkweed, no matter where you are near the end of July or beginning of August, you’re encouraged to share your observation with one of several Community Science programs displayed below.
Curious which program is right for you?
Have a look through the programs below to find one that works for you!
Mission Monarch
Canada
Mission Monarch
Mission Monarch is a community science program aiming at gathering data on monarch and milkweed distribution and abundance. This knowledge will allow researchers to identify the monarch’s breeding hotspots and implement efficient conservation actions. Participants find milkweed, look for monarch caterpillars and share their observations with scientists on the Mission Monarch website.
The program is a joint initiative of the Insectarium – Montréal Space for Life and the Institut de recherche en biologie végétale. It is part of an international research and education effort aimed at saving the migratory populations of this endangered species.
NaturaLista
Mexico
NaturaLista
NaturaLista is a social network for citizen science where you can learn about Mexico’s plants, mushrooms and animals and help advance scientific knowledge about nature. NaturaLista is an encyclopedia, photographic catalog, map library, field guide and especially an educational hobby. You can use its app to record your nature observations in image or audio form and share them with the NaturaLista community, which will help you identify the species. Plus, the app activates your GPS to automatically record the date and location of your photos. The app also shows on a map the observations recorded around your location or any other location.
In addition, within the NaturaLista community, specific projects are developed to integrate information on species or ecosystems. Thus, in Mexico, there’s the Monarch butterfly in Mexico project which integrates all information on monarch monitoring. This project enhances knowledge about monarchs in Mexico and strengthens decision-making in the country’s Protected Natural Areas and elsewhere by identifying the principal sites in terms of conserving and protecting monarch migration in Mexico.
Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper
Western United States
Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper
The Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper is a community science effort to map monarchs and milkweed across the Western United States. To preserve and protect populations in western states, we need to better understand where and when monarchs and their milkweed host plants occur in the landscape. Data compiled through this project will improve our understanding of the distribution and phenology of monarchs and milkweeds, identify important breeding areas, and help inform monarch conservation needs.
Your help is critical to the success of this project! You can participate in this effort by uploading your photos of monarchs (all life stages) and milkweeds to our website *OR* iNaturalist Project. Have fun while learning more about monarchs and the special habitats they use in your area!
The Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper is a collaborative partnership between The Xerces Society, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Journey North
North America
Journey North
Website @journeynorth @journeynorth @journeynorth
Join the Journey North Monarch & Milkweed Project to track key phenological events in the life cycle of monarch butterflies and milkweed. An easy-to-use data entry portal allows you to quickly submit data. In the spring, track first arrivals of migratory monarchs and first emergence of milkweed. During summer, document where monarch breeding and feeding activities and milkweed presence. And in the fall, report monarch roost sites and peak migration events as monarchs travel to overwintering sites. Watch the migration unfold on real-time maps and subscribe to receive weekly news updates. Beyond monarchs and milkweed, you can help Journey North track the migration of hummingbirds, orioles, loons, swallows, and many more species.
Monarch Larva Monitoring Project
North America
Monarch Larva Monitoring Project
Website Email @monarchsMLMP @mlmpcitsci @MLMPCitSci
The Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP) is a community science effort to track monarch eggs and larvae across North America during the breeding season. MLMP volunteers have been reporting data since 1997, participating in one or several MLMP activities that help scientists track monarch populations, understand monarch use of available habitat, and investigate factors impacting populations, such as weather and parasitism.
As an MLMP volunteer, your contributions not only advance our general understanding of butterfly ecology but inform and inspire the conservation of monarchs and their threatened migratory phenomenon. The MLMP is co-hosted by the Monarch Joint Venture and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum.
Correo Real
Mexico
Correo Real
Website Email @correorealmx @correorealmx @correorealmx
Correo Real is a program of Profauna, the Mexican Wildlife Protection Society, which helps protect and preserve monarch butterfly migration in Mexico through education and citizen science activities, conservation actions and partnerships with the community, civil society organizations, the public sector and private enterprise.
Correo Real’s story began in 1992 with an initiative to form a network of concerned volunteers who would study and safeguard this incredible natural phenomenon, as well as record and share information on the monarch’s migratory routes in Mexico. This proved an innovative idea, which has since inspired other environmental education and citizen science programs.
In 2022, the program celebrated its 30th anniversary. Among its many important achievements, the following stand out:
- the organization of some 100 training workshops and courses, to the benefit of over 3,000 teachers and citizens;
- the compiling of 20,000 recorded sightings of migrating monarch specimens;
- the continuous publication of over 400 informative newsletters on monarch butterfly migration, pollinators, and actions in the community to promote their conservation; and
- participation in various networks in Mexico and elsewhere in North America, engaged in efforts to protect and safeguard monarch butterfly migration.
Partners
The Blitz is organized by the Trinational Monarch Conservation Science Partnership, a collaboration of organizations, including:
Contact
Georgina O’Farrill
Head of Unit, Outreach and Partnerships
(514) 350-4336