During recent winters, volunteers from the Southeast and Gulf states have provided thousands of observations of monarch butterflies. This coming winter, the partnership of universities, agencies and other organizations called Monarchs Overwintering in the Southeastern States, or MOVERS, is requesting the public’s continued involvement in reporting sightings.
Dr. Sonia Altizer, a University of Georgia ecology professor and director of Project Monarch Health, said the information can help scientists determine if these iconic but declining butterflies “can overwinter as non-breeding adults in the southern U.S. and how this might affect future population numbers.” The monitoring will also help document how winter-breeding activity might affect their annual migration to Mexico.
Understanding migration and overwintering behavior is crucial to conserving monarchs, a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act.
Thousands of monarch butterflies stream across the South each fall to wintering grounds in central Mexico. In the spring, this eastern population of the butterfly returns to the U.S. and Canada to breed. But not all monarchs migrate to Mexico. Volunteer observations over the past two decades have helped scientists better understand how and why some monarchs breed throughout the winter in the southern U.S. Scattered reports suggest that some monarchs can overwinter in coastal regions in a non-breeding state, similar to their wintering behavior in Mexico.
The goal this winter is to collect more data for a growing partnership that includes organizations such as the Florida Natural Areas Inventory and the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program.
Gabriela Garrison of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission said the monarch is a species of greatest conservation need in North Carolina’s Wildlife Action Plan, as it is in the wildlife action plans of Georgia and many other states. “So, monitoring overwintering populations and learning more about their behavior is critical,” Garrison said.
The public is encouraged to report all monarch sightings (including adults, eggs, larvae and pupae) from November to March in Georgia, the Carolinas, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
Observations can be submitted either through the Journey North online data portal or by using iNaturalist (via the website or app).
Susan Meyers, a volunteer with Monarchs Across Georgia, emphasized that volunteers are vital to the effort. “If you enjoy being outdoors and exploring your local ecosystem, this is an easy activity that can be done alone or with friends or your family,” Meyers said.
Project partners are grateful to all who reported sightings last winter, said Anna Yellin, a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. “When we come together as a community as we have with this effort, we stand a better chance of protecting the monarch butterfly for future generations.”
HOW TO TAKE PART
Use either of these two methods.
At https://journeynorth.org/reg:
- Create a free account
- Learn how to report monarch sightings (https://journeynorth.org/monarchs)
- November-March, submit monarch observations at https://journeynorth.org/sightings
At https://www.inaturalist.org:
- Create a free account
- November-March, submit report monarch observations using your web browser or phone app
- Want season updates? Join the iNaturalist monarch winter project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/monarch-observations-november-march
