Butterflies are important pollinators to many agricultural crops. From larval stage (caterpillars) to adults, butterflies, bees and other pollinators are vital to healthy ecosystems.
In addition to their ecological niche, we celebrate the beauty, gifts and necessity of our native pollinators. Habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change threaten our environment. The plight of the Monarch Butterfly, as well as the decline in many other native pollinator species is calling us to do our part. Planting seeds and expanding native habitat to bring the pollinators back, and educating our children is our focus. What are you feeling called to do? |
Citizen Science Links
- Bumble Bee Watch - North American Bumble Bee tracking
- Butterflies and Moths of North America
- Carolinian Canada's In the Zone Program - Tracker of native plant gardens and wildlife observations as part of Grow Canada's Biggest Wildlife Garden
- Butterflyway Project (David Suzuki Foundation) - Butterflyway map across Canada
- Homegrown National Park - Map of residential native plant gardens across Canada and USA
- iNaturalist App - Repository of species observations (pin your sightings to a map), crowdsourcing species identification; an initiative of California Academy of Sciences and National Geographic Society
- Journey North - Monarch and other migratory species tracking
- Mayors' Monarch Pledge - David Suzuki Foundation
- Merlin App - Bird song and call identification, by The Cornell Lab
- Monarchs Migrating Through Ontario - Facebook Group
- Monarch Ontario
- Monarch Watch - Monarch Butterfly tagging data and other conservation initiatives
- Pelee Paradise Monarchs - Facebook group for Pelee Paradise Sanctuary, located on Lake Erie's north shore, outside of Point Pelee National Park