Record Low Number of Overwintering Monarch Butterflies in California – They Need Your Help!

Emma PeltonPosted on January 17, 2019 Posted in News

Working at a conservation nonprofit means that we often come across bad news, but the results from this winter’s Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count left us shocked: an all-time record low of 28,429 monarchs at 213 sites.

This number is an 86% drop from the previous count done at Thanksgiving 2017, when 192,668 monarchs were counted at 263 sites (comparing only the sites monitored in both years)—and a dizzying 99.4% decline from the numbers present in the 1980s (Schultz et al. 2017). In short, only one of every 160 monarchs present in the 1980s exists today. Continue reading this blog here…

About the Western Monarch Count

The Western Monarch Count is a community science program through the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. You can read more about it here.

Support the Xerces Society's Conservation Work.

Donate

Terms of Use

This website contains links to other independent third party websites. These third party websites are not under our control, and we are not responsible for and do not necessarily endorse their content. We are not liable for any offensive, inaccurate, or objectionable content contained on these third party sites.

Monarch overwintering site location data provided by this website is for basic navigational purposes only and is not intended to be relied upon in situations where precise location information is needed or where erroneous, inaccurate or incomplete location data may lead to personal injury, death, or property or environmental damage. Neither we, nor any of our content providers, guarantee the availability, accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of location data displayed by our website.

Participants of this community science project assume all responsibility for following the rules and regulations of the areas in which they are surveying, including all notices of private property and no trespassing warnings. The Xerces Society encourages all participants to follow basic common sense and safety precautions when accessing and monitoring overwintering sites. Participants are ultimately responsible for their own safety and well-being.

↑