To spot a butterfly: Insectarium asks for Montrealers' help counting monarchs

Montrealers are being called to action to help stave off the decline of one of North America's most celebrated residents.

The Montreal Insectariumlaunched its data-driven, Mission Monarch project this weekend, asking people to help locate monarch butterflies across the city.

The goal is tolocate monarchsand milkweed the plant on which the butterflies lay their eggs to accurately map the butterflies' local habitat, explained the project's co-ordinator, Andr-PhilippeDrapeau-Picard.

"We'll be able to map the milkweed and monarch breeding precisely enough to locate the breeding habitat and protect some of them," Drapeau-Picard told CBC Montreal's Daybreak.

Hope to stave off the monarch's decline

Drapeau-Picard said the monarch population has declined by about 80 per cent in the last 20 years, but "there's still a chance to save" the species.

One reason for itsdecline is that pesticides are killing themilkweed plant, which the monarch depends on for its survival.

This has led the Montreal boroughs of Saint-Laurent andRosemontLaPetite-Patrieto start planting milkweedas part ofthe "Mayors' Monarch Pledge," a campaign in which mayors from150municipalities across North America are participating.

The hotweather this summer, however,has resulted in amonarch revival inCanada, which is seeing higher numbers of monarchs thanwitnessed in the past several years, he said.

In contrast, in Mexico, where the migratory monarchs spend the winter, the count shows that the butterfly is in a drastic decline.

The monarchs'4,500-kilometrejourney to Mexico each falltakes longer to complete than the butterflies' two-to-seven-week summer lifespan.

Thatmeans that about four generations of monarchs will live and die before the great-great-grandchildren of those who first set out from Canada arrivein Mexico.

"There seems to be a mismatch between the summer population size and the winter population size," Drapeau-Picardsaid.

He said that's one of the major questions he hopes the data collected through Mission Monarch will help answer.

"Why is there that mismatch and what does it mean for monarch conservation?" he said.

Where should you look?

Where you find milkweed, you'llfind monarchs,Drapeau-Picardsaid.

"Go outside, look for milkweed, the host plant of the monarch, [and]verify the presence of monarchs on those plants," he said.

Drapeau-Picardsaid when examining the milkweed, people should look foreggs, caterpillars and adult butterflies flying around the plant.

He said the caterpillars are easy to identify because they're hairless,have two sets of horns on each sideof their body, and are yellow, black and white.

"With those traits, you can be sure that you're looking at a monarch caterpillar," he said.

Mission Monarch also hasa guideon its website to help people identify the butterfly throughout its lifecycle.

To report a monarch or milkweed plant sighting, or for more information about Mission Monarch, visit the project'swebsite.