Monarch Butterfly Migration Map

Orange and black-winged monarch butterflies have begun their spring migration. The butterflies spent the winter south in Mexico and are flying north for the summer. According to the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium, they’ve traveled up through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and are now in Missouri and entering southern Iowa. According to the World Wildlife Fund, this winter a survey reported that adult butterflies covered approximately 10 acres of forest in Mexico, while the last three winters they occupied three or fewer acres. The U.S. Has a conservation goal of a sustained monarch population of 225 million butterflies, which would be about 15 acres.