Data and credits
Where every number comes from
Everything on Little Wings is built from open data and published facts. Here is each dataset, its licence, the years it covers and how often we update it.
Danaus plexippus goldenrod field
| Dataset | Source | Years | Licence | Updated | Used in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monarch sightings | GBIF.org occurrence records for Danaus plexippus (mostly iNaturalist), Canada, US and Mexico Source for Monarch sightings (opens in a new tab) | 2016 to now | CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC, licence kept on every record | Weekly for the live layer; yearly for the explorer | The Journey, Where monarchs breed, No milkweed no monarchs, Home |
| Eastern overwintering area | Hectares of Mexican forest covered by monarch colonies each winter: WWF-Mexico and CONANP surveys, compiled by Monarch Watch Source for Eastern overwintering area (opens in a new tab) | 1993-94 to 2025-26 | Published figures, cited | Each March | Two populations, Fill the forest |
| Western Monarch Count | Xerces Society Western Monarch Count, volunteer counts at California and Baja coastal sites each November Source for Western Monarch Count (opens in a new tab) | 1997 to 2025 | Published figures, cited | Each January | Two populations |
| Monarch Conservation Database | US Fish and Wildlife Service county summary of habitat projects, acres and milkweed stems Source for Monarch Conservation Database (opens in a new tab) | 2014 to 2020 | US federal open data | When USFWS updates it | Who is helping? |
| Wind | Environment and Climate Change Canada HRDPS 2.5 km model, 10 m wind, MSC Datamart Source for Wind (opens in a new tab) | 1 to 3 October 2026 | Open Government Licence - Canada | Seasonal, when a new front is worth showing | Riding the wind |
| Milkweed records | GBIF.org occurrence records for Asclepias (milkweeds) in Canada and Ontario Source for Milkweed records (opens in a new tab) | 2000 to 2026 | CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC | Yearly | No milkweed no monarchs, Help the monarchs |
| Legal status | Species at Risk Public Registry (Canada), US Fish and Wildlife Service, Center for Biological Diversity, IUCN, UNESCO, Mexican decrees Source for Legal status (opens in a new tab) | 1980 to 2026 | Public records, cited | When status changes | Three countries, three answers |
| Radio tracking | Xerces Society and Monarch Watch public updates on Project Monarch Source for Radio tracking (opens in a new tab) | 2017 to 2026 | Published facts, cited | Each season | Following one monarch at a time |
| Maps | Natural Earth boundaries, lakes and places; GADM province boundaries Source for Maps (opens in a new tab) | Current | Public domain (Natural Earth); GADM for non-commercial use | Rarely | All maps |
How we use it
Rules we follow
- Sightings are reports, not counts. More people report from cities and parks, and more people use phone apps every year.
- Licences travel with the data. Monarch sightings carry CC0, CC BY or CC BY-NC licences, and each record keeps its own.
- Models are labelled. The wind map is a weather model, not measurements.
- Current figures are checked. Legal status and the latest counts were checked on 11 October 2026.
Not available yet
Asking permission
Some of the best monarch data is not open. We have asked for permission to use:
- Project Monarch radio tracks from Long Point
- Monarch Watch tag recoveries
- Journey North sightings after 2020
- Mission Monarch survey results
Photos
Image credits
Photos are from Unsplash photographers, used under the Unsplash License. The drawings in the kids games and colouring sheets are original to Little Wings. The watercolour illustrations in the kids corner were made with an AI image tool (Google Gemini, through OpenRouter) and checked against real monarchs; they are illustrations, not photographs.
- A dense cluster of monarch butterflies covering the branches of an evergreen tree - Emmanuel Contreras (Unsplash License)
- A jade-green monarch chrysalis with a band of gold dots - Joshua J. Cotten (Unsplash License)
- A male monarch butterfly feeding on purple asters - Thomas Elliott (Unsplash License)
- A male monarch butterfly with open wings on pink swamp milkweed - Joshua J. Cotten (Unsplash License)
- A monarch butterfly and a bumblebee feeding on yellow flowers - Dennis McKinnon (Unsplash License)
- A monarch butterfly feeding on common milkweed flowers - Lasclay (Unsplash License)
- A monarch butterfly feeding on pink showy milkweed flowers - Gennady Zakharin (Unsplash License)
- A monarch butterfly flying past orange flowers - Victória Duarte (Unsplash License)
- A monarch butterfly holding the edge of a milkweed leaf - M. Dean (Unsplash License)
- A monarch butterfly on a purple verbena flower - Laura Ockel (Unsplash License)
- A monarch butterfly on goldenrod in a sunny field - Jackie Best (Unsplash License)
- A monarch butterfly on purple flowers against a blue sky - Justin DoCanto (Unsplash License)
- A monarch butterfly on soft pink flowers - Aaron Burden (Unsplash License)
- A monarch butterfly on swamp milkweed - Jeffrey Eisen (Unsplash License)
- A monarch butterfly resting on an open hand - Dietra Alyssa Semple (Unsplash License)
- A monarch butterfly with open wings on a thistle flower - Sean Stratton (Unsplash License)
- A monarch caterpillar under a milkweed leaf - Sara Codair (Unsplash License)
- A newly emerged monarch butterfly hanging from its empty chrysalis - Joshua J. Cotten (Unsplash License)
- A striped monarch caterpillar on a milkweed leaf - Lasclay (Unsplash License)
- A vintage scientific illustration of two monarch butterflies - The New York Public Library (Unsplash License)
- Hundreds of monarch butterflies crowded together - Alex Guillaume (Unsplash License)
- Monarch butterflies packed together in a winter cluster, a few with their wings open - Linda Pomerantz Zhang (Unsplash License)
- Monarch butterflies resting on a mossy tree trunk while hundreds more fly against a blue sky - Erika Löwe (Unsplash License)
- Monarch chrysalises in a row beside a newly emerged butterfly - Suzanne D. Williams (Unsplash License)
- Two monarch butterflies on a mossy trunk, with more flying in the blue sky behind - Erika Löwe (Unsplash License)
- Two monarch butterflies on yellow goldenrod - Ann Williams (Unsplash License)
- Western monarchs clustered on cypress branches draped in lichen - Y S (Unsplash License)
- Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory, spring 2026 - Gogerr (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Paper Kite at the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory - Abrewster (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Little Wings is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any of the organizations named on this site. Data: GBIF.org, WWF-Mexico and CONANP via Monarch Watch, Xerces Society, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Natural Earth, GADM.