Western Monarch Day

Get out your tiara…wait no! It’s not that day. It is Western Monarch Day. It is a day to celebrate the Western Monarch butterfly.

It travels from place to place but this day specifically we give thanks for their return to the central California coast. Why is this so important? It is important to watch and make sure that they do return. The monarch butterfly is facing a terrific decline in numbers.

Many conservation groups are calling for it to be protected as an endangered species and claim that the number of declines could be as high as 90%!

How to Celebrate Western Monarch Day

Did you know that if we all took a few simple actions we could help to save the Western Monarch Butterfly? Currently, three conservation groups are working to get endangered status and protection for this creature, but is it enough? No, it isn’t. So what can you do? Great question!

Plant a Monarch Friendly Garden

One way is to share a little bit of your yard with them. The main plant that they need is milkweed.

This plant is critical to their survival along the migration routes that they take. It provides nectar as well as the fact that it is the only plant in which the Monarch butterfly can lay their eggs in. In the Midwest of the United States of America, this plant is quickly disappearing as more and more land is being used for farming.

If you go to the Live Monarch website you can help by planting free seeds. Give the butterflies a rest in your garden and you can help to ensure their continued well-being.

When they come to feast and lay their eggs, you will be able to help document their numbers if you choose. But better yet you can enjoy their beauty knowing you have helped them!

History of Western Monarch Day

The Monarch butterfly is a stunning mix of grace and beauty. With rich tones of gold, red, yellow and orange they fly across the landscape and take over the job of pollination.

They somehow know when it is time to move. Their migration can be tracked from north and east to south and west, and then back again.

Amazingly each way of the migration takes four generations! Can you imagine? Taking into account how much they pollinate, and the fact that their migration takes such a toll on their population it is imperative to understand what their decline really means.

Can you picture the toll when I say the decline of Monarch population is near 90%? Let me share a visual with you. Let’s talk people instead of insects.

If we were to make a comparison, the loss to the butterfly would be as if all the people in the United States of America died except for those in Ohio and Florida. Stunning isn’t it?

With that picture in mind, can you now see why there is a Western Monarch Day? A day to bring awareness to this frightening decline? A day to find a way to make a difference!

Facts About Western Monarch Day

Monarchs Use an Internal “Sun Compass” to Navigate  

Western monarch butterflies navigate long-distance migrations using a time-compensated “sun compass” located in their antennae and brain, integrating the sun’s position, polarized light patterns, and an internal circadian clock so they can maintain a stable flight direction as the sun moves across the sky.  

Coastal California Groves Create Unique Overwintering Microclimates  

Western monarchs cluster in coastal groves of trees such as eucalyptus, Monterey pine, and cypress along central and southern California, where dense canopies, moderated temperatures, and elevated humidity create a narrow microclimatic range that reduces freezing and desiccation risk while allowing butterflies to conserve energy.  

Western and Eastern Monarchs Form Distinct Migratory Populations  

Genetic and tagging studies show that eastern and western North American monarchs belong to one interbreeding species, Danaus plexippus, but form geographically distinct migratory populations, with western monarchs generally overwintering at coastal California sites while eastern monarchs concentrate in high-elevation oyamel fir forests in central Mexico.  

Milkweed Chemistry Helps Monarchs Turn Toxic 

Monarch caterpillars feed on milkweeds that contain cardiac glycosides (cardenolides), and specific amino acid substitutions in their sodium–potassium ATPase enzyme allow them to tolerate and sequester these toxins in their tissues, making both caterpillars and adults distasteful or poisonous to many vertebrate predators.  

Western Monarch Numbers Have Crashed in Recent Decades  

Monitoring of California overwintering sites indicates that the western monarch population has declined from an estimated 4–10 million butterflies in the 1980s to fewer than 2,000 individuals counted in winter 2020–2021, a collapse of over 99 percent that researchers link to loss of breeding and overwintering habitat, pesticide exposure, and climate-related stressors. 

Small Urban Gardens Can Function as “Stepping-Stone” Habitat  

Landscape ecology research finds that even small patches of milkweed and nectar plants in urban and suburban yards, parks, and transportation corridors can serve as “stepping-stone” habitat, offering breeding sites and refueling stops that help monarchs move across otherwise inhospitable agricultural and metropolitan regions.  

Monarchs Are Widely Used as a Flagship Species for Insect Conservation  

Because monarch butterflies are large, easily recognized, and culturally iconic, conservation planners often use them as a flagship species whose popularity helps mobilize public and political support for broader initiatives that reduce pesticide use and restore native host and nectar plants, indirectly benefiting many less conspicuous insect species.