Mid-Season Western Monarch Count Tally Reaches 8,000
Conservation professionals and community scientists are teaming up to document overwintering monarchs along California’s coast.
Western monarchs are settling in for the winter along the California coast, though 2025 is shaping up to be another low population year. As the three week mid-season Western Monarch Count survey approaches its close this Sunday, partners and volunteers have estimated approximately 8,000 monarchs so far—a total that may place this winter as the second or third lowest on record. The mid-season tally last year was 9,119 monarch butterflies. A final tally for the 2025 mid-season count will be announced in late January.
LINK: Western Monarch Count
LINK: Second or third lowest on record
Santa Cruz remains California’s overwintering hotspot in 2025
Natural Bridges State Beach and Lighthouse Field State Beach in Santa Cruz County remain this season’s strongest hotspots–with over a thousand butterflies each–and are both open for public viewing. Other popular overwintering sites that welcome visitors include Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary which is currently hosting about 172 monarchs, Pismo State Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove which is currently hosting 449 monarchs, and Goleta Butterfly Grove which is currently hosting 18 monarchs (more information about visiting monarch overwintering sites here). In general, Southern California and the Central Coast–with the exception of Santa Cruz–continue to see unusually low numbers of monarchs.
LINK: Natural Bridges State Beach
LINK: Lighthouse Field State Beach
LINK: Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary
LINK: Pismo State Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove
LINK: Goleta Butterfly Grove
LINK: Here
Weather & environmental factors can influence population size
Many factors including weather can influence monarch overwintering populations making bouncy year-to-year fluctuations the norm. Another warm summer and drought across the West, as well as the low overwintering numbers last year, have likely led to a second year in a row of depressed numbers. Underscoring regional differences, eastern monarchs overwintering in Mexico appear to be faring better this season compared to last, according to early reports from partners in Mexico.
LINK: Bouncy year-to-year fluctuations
LINK: Eastern monarchs overwintering in Mexico
Scientists deploy BluMorpho tags along CA Central Coast
The Xerces Society, Point Blue Conservation Science and Althouse & Meade are partnering with California State Parks, the City of Goleta, Santa Cruz County Parks, and other local public land managers to study monarch butterfly movement during the overwintering season of 2025-26. We are tagging overwintering monarchs with new ultralight radiotags at several sites along the Central Coast in order to track and better understand their movement patterns. Read more on our StoryMap.
LINK: New ultralight radiotags
LINK: StoryMap
Plus, you can now follow individual monarchs on their migration via the Cape May Point Science Center’s Project Monarch App which allows your phone to act as a mini-receiver and track tagged monarchs in real time! The app is available for free in your app store for Android and Apple devices such as cellular phones and tablets.
LINK: Android
LINK: Apple
Keep up the good work!
Continued conservation efforts remain essential across North America, and it’s up to all of us to keep collecting data, stewarding habitat, and advocating for policy protections that help monarch butterflies. View the Xerces Society’s Western Monarch Call to Action for more information on key recovery steps in the West.
LINK: Conservation efforts
LINK: Western Monarch Call to Action
Thank you to all our partners, volunteers and funders who make the Western Monarch Count possible!
Notice: Below is a list of 16 important links included on this page.
2. Second or third lowest on record
3. Natural Bridges State Beach
4. Lighthouse Field State Beach
5. Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary
6. Pismo State Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove
8. Here
9. Bouncy year-to-year fluctuations
10. Eastern monarchs overwintering in Mexico
12. StoryMap
13. Android
14. Apple
16. Western Monarch Call to Action
Please note that while screen readers have made significant strides, they may still lack full support for optimal web accessibility.
Conservation professionals and community scientists are teaming up to document overwintering monarchs along California’s coast.
Western monarchs are settling in for the winter along the California coast, though 2025 is shaping up to be another low population year. As the three week mid-season Western Monarch Count survey approaches its close this Sunday, partners and volunteers have estimated approximately 8,000 monarchs so far—a total that may place this winter as the second or third lowest on record. The mid-season tally last year was 9,119 monarch butterflies. A final tally for the 2025 mid-season count will be announced in late January.
Santa Cruz remains California’s overwintering hotspot in 2025
Natural Bridges State Beach and Lighthouse Field State Beach in Santa Cruz County remain this season’s strongest hotspots–with over a thousand butterflies each–and are both open for public viewing. Other popular overwintering sites that welcome visitors include Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary which is currently hosting about 172 monarchs, Pismo State Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove which is currently hosting 449 monarchs, and Goleta Butterfly Grove which is currently hosting 18 monarchs (more information about visiting monarch overwintering sites here). In general, Southern California and the Central Coast–with the exception of Santa Cruz–continue to see unusually low numbers of monarchs.
Weather & environmental factors can influence population size
Many factors including weather can influence monarch overwintering populations making bouncy year-to-year fluctuations the norm. Another warm summer and drought across the West, as well as the low overwintering numbers last year, have likely led to a second year in a row of depressed numbers. Underscoring regional differences, eastern monarchs overwintering in Mexico appear to be faring better this season compared to last, according to early reports from partners in Mexico.
Scientists deploy BluMorpho tags along CA Central Coast
The Xerces Society, Point Blue Conservation Science and Althouse & Meade are partnering with California State Parks, the City of Goleta, Santa Cruz County Parks, and other local public land managers to study monarch butterfly movement during the overwintering season of 2025-26. We are tagging overwintering monarchs with new ultralight radiotags at several sites along the Central Coast in order to track and better understand their movement patterns. Read more on our StoryMap.
Plus, you can now follow individual monarchs on their migration via the Cape May Point Science Center’s Project Monarch App which allows your phone to act as a mini-receiver and track tagged monarchs in real time! The app is available for free in your app store for Android and Apple devices such as cellular phones and tablets.
Keep up the good work!
Continued conservation efforts remain essential across North America, and it’s up to all of us to keep collecting data, stewarding habitat, and advocating for policy protections that help monarch butterflies. View the Xerces Society’s Western Monarch Call to Action for more information on key recovery steps in the West.
Thank you to all our partners, volunteers and funders who make the Western Monarch Count possible!
