[Pollinator] The Xerces Society's Western Monarch Count: Mid-Season Update, November 2022

[Matthew Shepherd]

Hi everybody,

The news is looking good for monarchs overwintering in California! The
following update was shared by our monarch team earlier today.

Matthew

_________________________________________________________

*The Xerces Society's Western Monarch Count: Mid-Season Update, November
2022*
*Date: 11/22/22*

More than *105,000* monarch butterflies* have been reported to The Xerces
Society's Western Monarch Count project as of 11/22/22. This year seems to
be another good year for migratory western monarchs, and survey reports
continue to roll in on a daily basis!

   - Natural Bridges: monitors report 7,500 as of 11/15/22
   - Lighthouse Field: monitors report 2,000 as of 11/15/22
   - Pacific Grove: monitors report 12,328 as of 11/18/22
   - Pismo Beach: monitors report 24,058 as of 11/15/22

The *Western Monarch Count (WMC)* <https://www.westernmonarchcount.org/> is an
annual, volunteer-powered community science effort that tracks the status
of overwintering western monarchs & their habitat. There are two official
monitoring periods that comprise the WMC: the Thanksgiving Count and the
New Year's Count. We are approximately half-way through the 2022
Thanksgiving Count monitoring period, and volunteers and partners have
surveyed over *70 monarch butterfly overwintering sites* in California so
far. We expect that volunteers, partners and other participants will survey
more than 200 overwintering sites for the Thanksgiving Count this year
(11/12/22 - 12/4/22), so data included in this mid-season update represent
only a fraction of the total number of sites that will be monitored.

Other mid-season highlights include the confirmation of four additional
overwintering sites (two in San Luis Obispo County and two in Alameda
County) and greater monarch presence in and around Sonoma, Marin, and Bay
Area counties. Both Marin County, CA, and Alameda County, CA, are reported
to have over 2,000 butterflies each - the most overwintering monarchs
recorded in these regions since the 2017-2018 season.

*Stay tuned! **The Xerces Society* <https://xerces.org/> will
release another unofficial count update in early December. You can also
follow the Western Monarch Count project on *Facebook*
<https://www.facebook.com/westernmonarchcount>.

** Reminder: The Xerces Society will announce the official Thanksgiving
Count and New Year's Count results in early 2023 once all data have been
submitted and vetted. Count updates shared prior to the official
announcements are not the final tally.*

-- 

Isis Howard

Endangered Species Conservation Biologist

Western Monarch Community Science

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Remote Office: Marin County, CA

Cell: (503) 212-0546



*Protecting the Life That Sustains Us*

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