Getting Started

• Map Archives: Overnight Roosts Fall 2004 to present
• Guided Tour for Teachers: The Magic of Monarch Migration
• Key Activities for Fall Monarch Butterfly Migration

Observing Fall Migration and Habitat

• Slideshow: The Magic of Monarch Migration
• Slideshow: The Annual Cycle of the Monarch Butterfly
• Slideshow: How to Watch for Migrating Monarchs
• Slideshow: Do You Know a Monarch When You See One?
• Practice With Butterfly Identification
• How Many Monarchs in the Garden?
• Activity: Fall Habitat Observations
• How is monarch habitat changing?

Tracking and Mapping Fall Migration

• Getting Ready for the Migration
• Make Your Own Map: Highlights Along the Migration Trail
• Timing of Fall Migration: When Will the Migration Reach You?
• Fly to Mexico Like a Monarch Butterfly
• How Far to Mexico?
• How Much Farther Must This Monarch Fly?
• Where Was the Migration Strongest?
• Why is Fall Migration Difficult to Map?
• Mapping Basics

Other Migration Studies: Tagging and Monitoring

• Slideshow: Tagging Monarchs: Tiny Tags, Big Discoveries
• True Stories About Tagged Monarch Butterflies
• Migration Monitoring Sites: The Value of Collecting Long-Term Data

The Overnight Roost

• Slideshow: Why Do Monarchs Form Roosts During Fall Migration?
• Scientific Findings: What do roosts reveal about fall migration?
• Map Archives: Location of Overnight Roosts (2004-present)
• Field Studies You Can Do at Roost Sites
• Estimating the Number of Monarchs in a Roost: Let's Practice!
• Do Monarchs Rest at the Same Roost Sites Every Fall?
• Analyzing Data from a Fall Migration Roost in Minnesota
• What Attracts Monarchs to a Roost?
• When, Where and Why Roost? Looking for Clues from the Field

Temperature and Fall Migration

• Slideshow: Too Cold to Fly?
• Temperature and Migration in Our Hometown
• Fall Temperatures: Basking Behavior
• Fall Temperatures: Shivering Behavior

Food

• Slideshow: Nectar and Migration
• Why is Nectar So Important to Monarch Butterflies
  in the Fall?
• How to Count Monarchs at a Nectar Source
• Where Do Monarchs Find Fuel During Migration?
• How Many Monarchs in the Forty-acre Field?
• How Can Monarchs Feed in Pecan Trees?
• Why in the Road?

Flight

• Slideshow: How High Can Monarchs Fly?
• Experiment: At What Height Does a Monarch Disappear? Monarch Migration Eye Test
• Experiment: From How Far Away Can You See a Monarch? Pictures from a Pilot
• Q & A: How High Do Monarchs Fly During Fall Migration?
• How High Do Monarchs Fly? Let's Compare!
• Dr. Brower’s Flight Height Experiment
• Why Migrate on a Bridge?
• Do Monarchs Migrate Across the Gulf of Mexico? by Dr. Bill Calvert
• Do Monarchs Migrate Across the Gulf of Mexico? by Mr. Don Davis
• Can a Monarch Fly Across the Atlantic Ocean?
• Monarchs Sighted in the Bahamas: Where Did They Come From?
• What does fall migration look like?
• A Look at Wind and Monarch Migration
• Cold Fronts, Wind and Fall Monarch Migration
• Up, Up and Away: Thermals and Updrafts
• Flying in a Thermal: Field Trip in the Sky (Video clip)
• The Appalachian Mountains: A Free Lift for Monarchs
• Adaptations to a World in Which Warm Air Rises
• Flapping Flight: A Look at Monarch Flight in Slow Motion (Video clip)
• The Energy Costs of Flight: How Much Fuel do Monarchs Burn?
• Free Ride to Mexico: Glide Don't Flap
• Hurricanes: A Fall Migration Hazard
• Blown Off Course: Monarchs Stranded on Lake Michigan Shores

Conservation

• Habitat and Survival: What do Monarchs Need During Fall Migration?
• Habitat Projects: Tell About Yours! Read About Others!
• Also See Symbolic Monarch Migration and Related Activities

Navigation and Orientation

• Slideshow: Exploring the Mysteries of Monarch Navigation
• Which Way to Mexico? Do You Know?
• Try This! Follow The Sun
• Tick-Tock Biological Clock: The Internal Clock and a Sense of Time
• What Scientists Say About the Navigation Puzzle
• How Do Monarchs Know Which Way to Fly?
• Monarch Orientation Mechanisms by Dr. Bill Calvert

Geography and Migration Pathways

• Why Do Monarchs Hug the Atlantic Coast?
• What's Happening Here? (South Atlantic Coastal Plain)
• Slideshow: Where Do Arizona Monarchs Go for the Winter?
• Mexico Bound? All Flights Cross Through Texas
• Explore the Possible Migration Pathway in Mexico
• The Migration Through Mexico--A Navigation Mystery
• Follow the Migration Trail Across Mexio (Google Maps)
• Los Estados Unidos Méxicanos: The United States of Mexico
• A Million Monarchs Fill the Sky, Nuevo Leon, Mexico (Audio)
• Mountain Geography Focuses the Migration (Audio)

The Wintering Grounds in Mexico

• Slideshow: Why is this Place So Special for Monarchs?
• The Location of the Overwintering Sites
• Can YOU Find the Monarch's Winter Home in Mexico?
• Exactly Where in Mexico Do the Monarchs Go for the Winter?
• Fly to Mexico Like a Monarch Butterfly (Google Maps)
• How Far to Mexico? (Measure Distances on Google Maps)
• Like Finding a Needle in a Haystack?
• Discovery Tale: Geographic Clues Led to Discovery

The Arrival in Mexico!

• Teacher Guide: The Monarchs' Arrival and Mexican Traditions
• Watching the Arrival by Elizabeth Howard
• Mass Arrival at the Sanctuaries (Photos)
• How Many Monarchs in a Single Photo? Let's Estimate!
• Monarchs Fly, Students Walk: Who will reach the monarch's winter home in Mexico first?

Adaptations for Survival

• How is a Vacation Like a Migration?
• Welcome Back to School: Learning Vs. Instinct
• Adaptations That Help Monarchs Survive
• Milkweeds and Monarchs: Comparing Adaptation Strategies

Assessment

• Suggestions for Assessment After Fall Migration Season

North America's Monarch Populations

• Map: North America's Two Monarch Populations
• Where do Monarchs From the Rocky Mountains Go for the Winter?
• Chasing Monarchs on Both Sides of the Continental Divide

Other Species That Migrate When Monarchs Migrate

• Dragonflies and Kestrels: A Food Chain Connection
• Other Butterfly Migration

Life Cycle

Annual Cycle

Annual Cycle