The Overwintering Season Continues

What does 2022 have in store for monarchs? As the overwintering season continues, Gail Morris provides an update on Western monarchs in California and the Southwest. In Mexico, Estela Romero shares a special video that you won't want to miss. And keep reporting winter monarch sightings in the Southeastern U.S.

Western monarchs overwintering in Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary, CA. Photo by: Robert Pacelli

Letter from Gail Morris: Western Monarch Winter 2021–22 Report #2

Out West, Gail Morris provides updates from overwintering sites and discusses the Thanksgiving and New Year’s Monarch Count. “Visitors and nearby residents are enjoying observing the surprising increase in monarchs this season at overwintering sites throughout California. Small pockets of monarchs are also present in southern California and the deserts of Arizona this winter as well, a harbinger of the season … Usually, the New Year’s Count results in lower numbers than the Thanksgiving Count. We are all waiting to see the results of these two major counts as soon as they are tabulated by the Xerces Society.”

Sharing the Wonder of Monarchs through the Symbolic Migration Project & Environmental Education

In the second video of a three-part series, join Estela Romero on a journey to Mexico’s oyamel fir forests, the winter home of monarch butterflies. See how the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve provides refuge for monarchs and benefits local communities. Learn how the Symbolic Migration Project builds bridges of communication between students in Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. United by monarchs, these students become the next generation of earth stewards and pledge to protect monarchs and their extraordinary migration.

Watch the full video: Sharing the Wonder of Monarchs through the Symbolic Migration Project & Environmental Education»

Monitor Overwintering Monarchs in Southeastern U.S.

If you live in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida as well as Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, we want to hear from you. Not all monarchs migrate to Mexico. Some breed throughout the winter in the Southeastern U.S., and scattered reports show that other monarchs might overwinter in this region in a non-reproductive state. Researchers and others studying monarchs seek your help to understand this phenomenon.

Brigid in Port O’Connor, TX: “Adult male feeding on lantana.” (01/06/2022)

Michele in Pensacola, FL: “[Adult monarch] appears to have just emerged.” (01/09/2022)

What to Report

There are four types of observations you can submit to Journey North: