Monarch Butterfly Migration Update: June 17, 2005

Today's Report Includes:

• Latest Migration Map and Data
• News from the Migration Trail
• The Monarch Migration Continues!
• We Need Your Help: Please Report Your Sightings
• Year-End Evaluation: Please Share Your Thoughts!

Latest Migration Map and Data Use the latest migration data to make your own map, or print and analyze our map Click to watch the week-by-week animation.

• The northernmost monarch has now been reported from latitude 50N in Manitoba. That is 2,147 miles (3,455 km) north of the overwintering sites in Mexico!

• A sighting this week from New Brunswick at latitude 46N means monarchs are as far as 2,753 miles (4,430 km) northeast of the overwintering sites.

• Please note: These distances are measured "as the crow flies." In contrast, as the butterflies fly, no single butterfly flew this far. It took at least two generations. What's more, monarchs probably don't cross the Gulf of Mexico as our measurement to the northeast does. (To measure distances from Mexico, see the Online Distance Calculator.)

• As the breeding season progresses, it's often hard to tell which sightings reflect broader distribution (due to migration) and which reflect greater abundance (due to reproduction). Among the 75 sightings added to the map this week are first sightings from states in southern regions of the summer breeding range. Can you find them?

• Monarchs have now been reported from a total of 35 U.S. states and 4 Canadian provinces. New this week were: NB, MA, MB and NB: Predicting the Route: Now How Many States and Provinces?

2001	2002	2003	2004

The Monarch Migration Continues! Other Journey North migrations have come to an end, but we'll continue to track the monarchs until they have expanded across their entire breeding range. Weekly updates with migration maps and data will be provided every Friday until the end of June.
We Need Your Help: Please Report Your Sightings It's an important year to document the migration, so please don't go away. Even if monarchs have already been reported from your state or province, we want to know when YOU see YOUR first monarch. Remember: We can't track the migration without your help!

The Next Monarch Migration Update Will Be Posted on June 24, 2005

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