Each year the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation conducts a Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count.<br />This is where, citizen scientists count the monarch butterflies overwintering in California.<br />Unfortunately, this year it is predicted that the monarch butterfly count will be low.<br />"In 2017, [the preliminary count] sites accounted for 77 percent of the total monarch overwintering population, hosting approximately 148,000 monarchs. In 2018, the same sites have only 20,456 monarchs. <br />
