Join the 29th annual Symbolic Monarch Migration!

4 September 2024 | Author: Monarch Watch

Every year, thousands of paper monarchs fly south to Mexico alongside the real monarchs, though with a slightly different pathway. Monarch butterflies only weigh about 0.5 grams, and these paper ones are just as light. The paper butterflies are part ...

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Jennie Brooks of Lawrence, Kansas: Her early contributions to monarch science

20 April 2024 | Author: Chip Taylor

by Chip Taylor, Founding Director, Monarch Watch It is easy to forget how we came to know what is known today about monarchs. Our understandings of how the world works often have long and convoluted histories that include fundamental misunderstandings, unsupported ...

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Monarch Watch One-Day Fundraiser Today!

6 March 2024 | Author: Jim Lovett

Today only! Help Monarch Watch climb to the top of the leaderboard again and get more milkweed in the ground by making a donation of any amount during this special one-day fundraising event, through midnight tonight. Thank you for your ...

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Background on the relationship of overwintering monarch numbers in 2023-2024 to the extreme drought in October and November 2023

7 February 2024 | Author: Monarch Watch

The text and graphics below are intended to provide the background needed to understand why many of the monarchs in the 2023 fall migration failed to reach the overwintering sites in central Mexico. This is a story of biology, weather ...

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2023 Monarch Watch summary

1 January 2024 | Author: Jim Lovett

Season’s Greetings from Team Monarch Watch! You are an important part of our team as well. Your interest shows that you are aware of the need to sustain the monarch migration, and that means advocacy for all measures that can be ...

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Species Status Assessment and the three r’s

13 October 2023 | Author: Chip Taylor

When species are being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), a Species Status Assessment (SSA) is usually prepared. This assessment is based on the available science, and in some cases, ...

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Monarchs: Weather and population sizes in the past

21 July 2023 | Author: Chip Taylor

Monarchs: Weather and population sizes in the past by Chip Taylor, Director, Monarch Watch If you have been reading about monarchs, you know they have declined in number. One account after another maintains that the population has declined 90% or, more conservatively, ...

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Monarch populations during the Dust Bowl years

17 July 2023 | Author: Jim Lovett

Monarch populations during the Dust Bowl years by Chip Taylor, Director, Monarch Watch Introduction The concern about the potential listing of monarchs as threatened or endangered by the Fish and Wildlife Service sometime in 2024 has led me to look into the conditions ...

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The Western monarch puzzle: the decline and increase in monarch numbers

29 May 2023 | Author: Chip Taylor

Preamble The first draft of the text that follows was written without consulting the literature. I wanted to work out my interpretations without the weight of the points of view of others. While I drew on my memory of the literature ...

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Monarch numbers: dynamics of population establishment each spring

27 March 2023 | Author: Jim Lovett

Monarch numbers: dynamics of population establishment each spring Chip Taylor, Director, Monarch Watch Introduction The short narratives that follow describe the outcomes of the timing and number of monarchs arriving from Mexico in March. Each cohort encounters different temperature scenarios in March and ...

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