Monarch Bioblitz Field Trip, Sponsored by the Marin Monarch Working Group

The Marin Monarch Working Group (MMWG) is leading a field visit to several monarch waystations in Marin County on July 29. Participants will take part in the Western monarch bioblitz, a citizen science project, photographing and recording information about the local Western monarch population during the summer breeding season. The monarch bioblitz takes place between July 25 and August 3rd, 2025. To learn more about field site locations please click the links in the schedule below.

Write to Audrey Fusco, SPAWN Program Director, at audrey@tirn.net for more details about the MMWG-sponsored field visits on July 29 and to RSVP. Please RSVP by July 26th. Field trip is limited to the first 20 participants who sign up. 

Schedule:

9:30am – Meet at Home Ground Habitats to carpool to Novato sites (optional) –

Note: Do not park your car on Slowdown Drive, which is directly across from Home Ground Habitat. Park on the road outside of the gate of Home Ground.

Morning field visits in Novato between 10am and 12:30pm:

Visit private garden in Novato and milkweed drift at Audubon site Deer Island (Simmons slough).

12:30pm – Reconvene at Home Ground Habitats for lunch with food provided by MMWG

Monitor the milkweed at Home Ground Habitats.

Afternoon field visits in Novato between 1:30pm and approximately  4pm:

Alameda del Prado, Marcia Basalla’s median and county meadow, and Marin Humane

General Information about the Western Monarch Bioblitz:

Getting a good picture of a monarch butterfly is not easy. They are a restless lot, flitting quickly among the milkweed and pollinator plants during the summer. But scientists and environmentalists need to know their numbers and their whereabouts. And they rely on community members to take and submit photographs that can be combined into a continent-wide dataset. You don’t have to be an entomologist or a photographer to participate. We need all hands on deck!

This collection effort will be happening across Canada, Mexico and the US during the International Monarch Monitoring Blitz fromJuly 25 through August 3, 2025. This is when monarchs are the most numerous and widely distributed across North America. 

The idea is for community members to go out during this period and take pictures when and where they can expect to see a monarch. You can go on your own, with a friend, or join a group (see below for details).

How do you know exactly what to do? Here are the basics:

·       If you live in an area that is typically home to monarch butterflies, go outside and look for monarchs – butterflies, caterpillars, and eggs — and for milkweed. You can visit local parks, gardens, roadsides….anywhere!

·       Sign in the iNaturalist app or to the monarch milkweed mapper website (monarchmilkweedmapper.org) and submit your data. The data will be organized by a group of co-sponsors spread throughout the continent who will then share it among themselves and with other scientists and the media.

The Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper website has lots of helpful information about how to identify monarchs and milkweed, how to photograph them, and how to submit your data.