Track monarchs in Point Reyes with an app

Project Monarch is a phone app that let’s you track Monarch butterflies. Scientists put tiny tags on monarchs and release them. The app tracks where they travel. As of this writing, a monarch called “Simone” is close to Divide Meadow on the Bear Valley Trail.

Before you go hiking, check to see if any monarchs are nearby. You may get lucky and see one!

Read more about Project Monarch on their website

Project Monarch is a citizen science project that enables members of the public to collect important data on monarch butterfly migration!

Incredibly small tracking devices - weighing only 60 milligrams, which is about the same as a grain of rice - have been deployed on monarch butterflies for the first time ever. These trackers transmit over the same frequency as Bluetooth, which means that your phone can detect the tagged monarchs!

With the help of community scientists like yourself, we have the potential to create the world's largest wildlife tracking network! All you have to do is go outside, look for monarchs, and use this app to record and upload your detections to the Project Monarch data server.

This data will allow scientists to track the movements of monarch butterflies in detail never previously imagined. We will see how monarchs utilize key stopping points along migratory routes and learn more about the speed and direction of migration, helping identify the most important sites for habitat conservation and restoration. Ultimately, this technology can help guide conservation planning and lead to increases in monarch populations.