Join our volunteer community science team with the Xerces Western Monarch Count! This virtual lecture is the first part of the training, led by a staff of the Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation. Part 2 is an in-person field training at the Monarch Sanctuary on Saturday, November 4 from 9:00 am - 11:00 am.

If you are new to this program (not a current PG Museum volunteer), you can register by emailing our Volunteer Coordinator at johnston@pgmuseum.org. Once you do so, you will be sent the Zoom link for the training.

If you are already an active PG Museum volunteer, you can register on the volunteer calendar.

As a Western Monarch Count volunteer, you will help take valuable data on the population of our local and threatened monarch butterflies. This training specifically focuses on the California-wide Xerces Thanksgiving and New Years counts. For this program, volunteers pick a local site along the Monterey Bay and counting the monarch butterflies they see twice within a one-week period (four counts total). 

We highly recommend you join this program with a partner, friend, or family. To keep data reliable, monarch counts must be conducted in pairs or small groups. Already having someone that you can communicate and/or carpool with is very helpful.

Benefits of being a Monarch Count community science volunteer include:

• Being part of a community science program whose data has led to protections for the beloved and endangered Western monarch.

• Access to beautiful monarch butterfly overwintering sites while counting.

• Training on basic monarch butterfly natural history and data collection techniques.

Qualifications needed:

• Monarch counts happen in the early morning, before the temperature has risen to 55 degrees F. Volunteers must be willing and able to start counting sometimes before sunrise — cold weather gear highly recommended!

• Monarch count volunteers must be willing to travel as far north as Moss Landing or as far south as Big Sur for the early-morning counts.

• Monarch count volunteers must be able to attend the in-person field training on Saturday, November 11 from 8:00 - 11:00 at the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary. (If you cannot attend this, reach out to our Volunteer Coordinator — any makeup sessions will have to be provided earlier, like in late October.)

For questions, just reach out to our Volunteer Coordinator at johnston@pgmuseum.org. We look forward to seeing you!