There are a number of websites available that are dedicated to the Monarch butterfly.
Here are research-based sites that are excellent resources.
The Monarch Lab, a research and educational site from the University of Minnesota, provides a LOT of great information. You can even sign up for their newsletter, which comes out several times a year and is also available online. Although most of the material is specific to the Monarchs east of the Rockies as data on the West Coast Monarchs is so rare (which is why we NEED to help the West Coast Monarchs!!), this is a wonderful resource.
Dr. Sonia Altizer's website from the University of Georgia provides an EXCELLENT visual for checking for the horrid Monarch parasite, OE. Dr. Altizer is a fabulous scientist who has done wonderful things for the Monarch butterfly. She currently has an ongoing research project where people throughout the United States collect data and send it to her. All of the materials are provided FREE OF CHARGE for this important project. It is all about the dreaded OE spore, which many do not realize is the cause of many of Monarchs' shortened life-span.
If you choose to raise Monarchs and would like to participate in data collection, then it is most definitely a great idea to sign up to be a part of the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project. This project is in conjunction with the University of Minnesota's Monarch Lab but what is great is that you can keep track of your eggs, larvae, and imagines (adults) online.
Another Monarch group that has been around since 1992 is based out of the University of Kansas. It is called Monarch Watch. This group helps to track the Monarch butterflies east of the Rockies by providing tags to help track the butterflies' migration to Mexico beginning in August (now they only send the tags to those who live EAST of the Rockies-at one time even those on the West Coast could order them).
There are also a number of sites dedicated to butterflies. Doing a search on your favourite search engine will produce a number of them.
Here is one that is maintained by authors/nature photographers Judy Burris and Wayne Richards that has excellent photos of various butterflies (including tropicals!) as well as activities. It is a bit 'busy' but there is a lot of good information to be had.
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