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The Thanksgiving Count & New Year’s Count are the
product of annual monitoring efforts of overwintering
monarchs in the West.
Data are collected from various overwintering sites located along the California coast, Northern Baja,
Mexico, and a few inland sites in California and Arizona. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of 100+
volunteers, we now have 25 years of data demonstrating that overwintering western monarchs have
undergone a >95% decline since the 1980s. Data collected by volunteers are compiled and entered into the
Xerces Society’s Western Monarch Overwintering Sites Database which also includes many historic counts
and survey efforts. Contact wmtc@xerces.org if you are interested in obtaining a copy of the entire
database.

Download data for all years (1997-2022) *NOTE: If you are a researcher using this data, be sure you
periodically check back to make sure you have the most recent version. Data were last updated on August 28th,
2022.

Data Citation: Xerces Society Western Monarch Count. 2022. Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count and
New Year’s Count Data, 1997-2021. Available at www.westernmonarchcount.org.

Results from the 2021 Western Monarch Thanksgiving

Count:
Volunteers counted nearly 250,000 butterflies at overwintering sites in the West, an over 100-fold increase
in abundance from 2020’s all-time low of less than 2,000 monarchs. Read our Blog and Press Release for
complete summaries of the 25th annual Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count, which occurred November
13 – December 5, 2021.
 Figure 1. Total monarchs reported and number of overwintering sites monitored for the Western Monarch
Thanksgiving Count from Nov. 1997 to Dec. 2021.

Results from the 2021-2022 Western Monarch New

Year’s Count:
Volunteers counted 151,168 butterflies across 209 overwintering sites for the New Year’s Count, revealing
an average seasonal decrease of ~38% over the winter season for the 196 sites monitored during both the
Thanksgiving and New Year’s Count; this decrease aligns with the trends we usually witness. Read our blog
for a complete summary of the 2021-2022 New Year’s Count, which occurred December 25, 2021 – January
9, 2022.

Figure 2. Total monarchs reported and number of overwintering sites monitored for the Western Monarch New
Year’s Count from Dec. 2016 to Jan. 2022.

These two counts are only possible because of the incredible regional coordinators and
volunteers that spend countless hours surveying overwintering sites each year. THANK YOU to
all who participate in this invaluable community science project!
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Butterfly wing image by and (c)2008 Derek

Ramsey (Ram-Man), licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License 1.2

Terms of Use
This website contains links to other independent third party websites. These third party websites are not under our control, and we are not responsible for and do not necessarily
endorse their content. We are not liable for any offensive, inaccurate, or objectionable content contained on these third party sites.
Monarch overwintering site location data provided by this website is for basic navigational purposes only and is not intended to be relied upon in situations where precise location
information is needed or where erroneous, inaccurate or incomplete location data may lead to personal injury, death, or property or environmental damage. Neither we, nor any
of our content providers, guarantee the availability, accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of location data displayed by our website.
Participants of this community science project assume all responsibility for following the rules and regulations of the areas in which they are surveying, including all notices of
private property and no trespassing warnings. The Xerces Society encourages all participants to follow basic common sense and safety precautions when accessing and
monitoring overwintering sites. Participants are ultimately responsible for their own safety and well-being.

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