A monarch butterfly is fitted with a BluMorpho tracker on Sept. 5, 2026, at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in Portland, Ore. Fifteen monarch butterflies were released in Portland in early September and are among the first of 200 to be digitally tracked as they migrate south from the Pacific Northwest.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
Monarch butterflies in the Pacific Northwest are currently making their annual migration south for the winter. Around 200 of them are carrying innovative digital trackers that will allow researchers — and the public — to follow their path for the first time.
David James, an associate professor in Washington State University’s entomology department, is overseeing the project. He joins us to talk about what he hopes to learn about monarch migration patterns.
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