New to monarchs? Learn how to monitor monarch butterflies! Join Nature NB for this two-day event celebrating Monarch Nation's National Flight of the Monarchs Day:
"Monarch butterflies are one of the most iconic and cherished insects in North America. Their epic 5,000-kilometre migration from eastern Canada to the forests of central Mexico begins in late August each year. In 2013, the eastern population of monarch butterflies dropped by 95 per cent, the smallest recorded population since the mid-1990s. Since 2013, the population has rebounded, thanks in part to the collective efforts of thousands of individuals, groups and communities across Canada, but the monarch’s future remains in serious peril. Flight of the Monarchs Day is an opportunity to celebrate the growing movement to protect monarch butterflies and the astonishing phenomenon of their migration as their epic journey southward begins."
Friday August 21st: Tune in for our Intro to Monarch Monitoring video streamed live on Facebook Watch. You’ll learn how to find and identify New Brunswick’s two native species of milkweed, tips for identifying different stages of monarch development, and how to use different citizen science applications to share your observations with the scientific community! The video will be streamed live with Nature NB staff on standby to answer your monarch and milkweed related questions.
Saturday August 22nd: Get outside, find a patch of milkweed, and join us all day in making monarch observations on iNaturalist! Nature NB will be spending the day surveying the milkweed in our backyards and neighbourhoods - join us by doing the same in your neck of the woods. Your iNaturalist observations will automatically be included in Nature NB’s Milkweeds & Monarchs of NB project where they can be accessed publicly and will be used to gain a better understanding of monarch distribution in New Brunswick. Keep an eye on Nature NB’s social media where we will be sharing our favourite observations!