Each August, monarch butterflies east of the Rocky Mountains migrate from southern Canada and the northern United States to central Mexico, where they hibernate. In spring, they wake, mate and fly north again to lay eggs. The story says the trip can cover about 3,000 miles.
In Texas, scientists with the National Wildlife Federation are tracking monarchs during migration. They want to learn where the butterflies roost and to protect the habitats they depend on. The photos provided with the story show a training session in Austin on Sept. 29, 2026, with federation staff and community scientists, and a transmitter being placed on a monarch in West Texas on Oct. 8, 2026.
Rebeca Quiñonez-Piñón and other scientists are attaching tiny tracking devices to hundreds of butterflies. They aim to find the stopover sites monarchs use on their journeys across North America before those sites disappear, the story said.