To engage an audience across North America in tracking migration and seasonal change to foster scientific understanding, environmental awareness and the land ethic. --Journey North mission statement (February 2020)

Journey North is a program of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum. Journey North could not have found a better home than the Arboretum with whom we share the same vision: to be “a global source of knowledge of and a model for restoring ecologically sustainable relationships between people and the land through integrative, innovative, and collaborative approaches in science, stewardship, education, and public engagement.” We hope you share this vision as well and continue to be a part of our Journey North community.

By Gail Morris

Patiently Waiting

Warm, sunny weather welcomed monarchs throughout their spring migration range this week. But monarch sighting reports still indicate monarchs are primarily in the warmer coastal region of California and the southwest. In the cooler southwest regions, milkweeds are emerging and ready for monarchs to fly their way!

 

Dear Journey North flock of birders, 

 06 - 10 April 2020  

 

Birding helps my sanity and my spirit. Nature awakens with migrating birds and emerging plants with colorful flowers bringing much joy. Hopefully, this report and photos lift your spirits too. 

So, what have I seen recently at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum?

By Gail Morris

Looking for Monarchs

Monarch sightings dropped this week, a harbinger of the spring season. Monarchs that eclosed last summer and fall have mostly left the overwintering sites in California and Mexico and are reaching the end of their lives. But Dr. John Dayton reports just a few male monarchs at the overwintering sites still in Santa Cruz, California.

By Gail Morris

03/26/2020 

Limited sightings

Warmer temperatures have returned but new sightings of monarchs and their eggs, larvae and pupae are still occurring in California and Arizona in the same regions as last week. This is the time in the spring migration when tracking monarchs becomes more of a challenge.

Monarchs Have Left

Seems like only yesterday that the monarchs arrived on the Day of the Dead in November. For nearly five months, the monarchs graced their ancestral homes among Oyamel forests in Mexico and Michoacán states, in Central México. They have now returned north to breed.

The last stopping point in the Rio Grande valley site is now empty of monarchs.

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