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How many signs can you find that the monarchs are reaching the end of their lives?
Describe what the monarchs are doing now, based on these observations.

• What do you suppose the typical day of a migrating monarch looks like?
• How many signs can you find that the monarchs are reaching the end of their lives?

Observations from Citizen Scientists

March 31   Ennis, TX (32N, -97W)
While looking for milkweed across the street from our school, another teacher and I spotted the first monarch we have seen in this area. It was a female and she was stopping only to drink from flowers. She had lost alot of her bright orange color, therefore, we knew she had been traveling for awhile.

March 30  Lawton, OK (35N, -98W)
Two students found a tattered female monarch on the playground at Whittier Elementary in Lawton, OK. They are putting the monarch on some flowers to rest so that it will be able to eat and then fly off.

March 29  Flower Mound, TX (33N,-97W)
Female monarch on milkweeds in our yard.

March 24  Horseshoe Bay, TX (31N,-98W)
First monarch of the season seen in mid-afternoon. It was the most "worn" one I have ever seen. Its coloring was pale, the wing edges very ragged and holes in the wings also. It only lit for one moment and then continued on north.

March 27  Monticello, AR (34N, -92 W)
A rather faded monarch of unknown gender was seen nectaring on an azalea flower at the local golf course.

26 de marzo Zuchil, Durango (24N, -104W)
A las tres y media de la tarde observé a 2 mariposas monarcas volando, una con un ala rota. [Translation: At 3:30 in the afternoon I saw 2 monarch butterflies flying, one with a broken wing.]