When Will Monarch Butterflies Arrive in Indiana?

Here's how to catch a glimpse of the brightly colored butterflies during their pit stop in the Hoosier state.

Each spring thousands of monarch butterflies travel from their winter home down in Mexico up to places like Michigan and Canada where they will stay for the warmer summer months, but not without stopping in Indiana first!

Despite researchers observing the annual monarch migration taking place earlier than usual over the last several years, the actual number of butterflies migrating has decreased. According to the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation while it is impossible to accurately determine how many monarch move through Indiana and the United States one thing is for certain: monarch numbers are dwindling.

researchers and citizen scientists estimate that only a fraction of the population remains, monarchs have declined by more than 80% since the 1990s from central Mexico, and by more than 95% since the 1980s in coastal California.

Researchers say threats to habitat including pesticide use, logging and development, and climate change are to blame for the monarch's decline. Indiana's role in monarch migration is crucial as it provides,

much of the breeding and migrating habitat that produces the migratory generation of the eastern monarch population. - Indiana Wildlife

Wildlife conservationists say July is when monarchs begin to appear for nectar and begin laying their eggs in Indiana. You can help and be a friend to monarchs this breeding season by:

• Planting milkweed and nectar plants
• Create a diverse backyard landscape including native plants
• Stopping the use of pesticides