The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

“Meet Sylvan Mimura, a Young Conservation Champion!” Sylvan, a young child, runs a stand where he is selling lemonade and baked goods to raise money for conservation.

Sylvan’s love for bugs began with playing the video game Grounded with his dad, & turned into a real-life passion. This summer, he ran a lemonade stand to raise money for and teach his community about invertebrate conservation!
🐞 Join Sylvan & host your own fundraiser at xerces.org/fundraise

Leave the Leaves! One of the most valuable ways to support pollinators and other invertebrates is to provide them with the shelter they need to survive the winter. Thankfully, all you need to do is do less yard work.

It’s time for one of the easiest things you can do for wildlife: just #LeaveTheLeaves! Leaves are vital homes & winter shelter! 🐝
🍂 Follow our easy tips & meet the animals you’ll be saving ➡️ xerces.org/blog/leave-t...
🪧 Get your own yard sign, now available in English & Spanish ➡️ xerces.org/gifts

We just had a Xerces partner biologist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service prepare a pollinator conservation plan for our own land. I got a very detailed 45 page report on what we can do to improve our habitat. Check with your local NRCS office to see if you can access this resource.

Don't forget to register and join us for tomorrow's free webinar all about bumble bees!

Michael McIntyre of Christiansburg, Virginia: From Lawn to Life with a Pollinator Paradise Xerces member Michael McIntyre has spent the past 25 years converting his family’s suburban lawn into a pollinator paradise.

Many of our members are incredible forces for invertebrate conservation in their own right! Today we are spotlighting Michael McIntyre, who has spent the past 25 years converting his family’s suburban lawn into a pollinator paradise!🌼🐝
Discover Michael’s story ⤵️
xerces.org/news/organiz...

“Bee Safe, Grow Well: Pollinator-Safe Nursery Practices with Full Circle Gardens”. An insectary strip next to the open-sided greenhouse helps to attract and support beneficial insects at Full Circle Gardens nursery.

Join us for innovative ways to grow healthy plants without pesticides, from the owner of a native plant nursery! This talk is for nursery owners, growers, IPM leads, & anyone buying plants for a large project.
🗓️Oct 7 at 10am PT / 1pm ET
🔗Register for this free event: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

That does sound like a lovely bee habitat! Well done!

The short answer is that it is all about pesticides - many plant nurseries sell plants that still have pesticides on them, which can hurt or kill wildlife - give the video a watch and you'll see what we mean!

YouTube video by The Xerces Society Growing Pollinator-Safe Plants: What Nurseries Can Do (and How You Can Help)

How can you make sure the plants you buy are safe for pollinators? And what can nursery growers do to grow plants that won’t harm wildlife? 🌱🌼🐝
We have the answers in our new video, featuring stories and practices from several innovative plant nurseries! ⤵️
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcdv...

With Upgraded Transmitters, We Can Now Track Migrating Monarchs Better than Ever Xerces has been helping to test these new tags for over a year, and we are excited to finally put them into widespread use.

Previous monarch tags could only be detected by specialized receivers, but this new version uses Bluetooth just like Apple AirTags, giving us a much better picture of the route each monarch takes on its journey! Learn how you can follow along with their migration ⤵️

YouTube video by The Xerces Society Growing Pollinator-Safe Plants: What Nurseries Can Do (and How You Can Help)

How can you make sure the plants you buy are safe for pollinators? And what can nursery growers do to grow plants that won’t harm wildlife? 🌱🌼🐝
We have the answers in our new video, featuring stories and practices from several innovative plant nurseries! ⤵️
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcdv...

“From 25 July to 3 August 2025, more than 9,000 participants across Canada, Mexico and the US contributed more than 19,000 observations, reporting over 71,000 milkweed plants and more than 33,000 monarchs! Learn more at monarchblitz.org”

A map of North America, showing the amount of sightings of milkweed flowers and monarch butterflies by Monarch Blitz participants.

This year, volunteers broke participation records during the 9th edition of the #MonarchBlitz! Check out the incredible snapshot of milkweed plants and monarch butterflies across North America, as collected by all of you! 🌱🦋
👉Learn more at monarchblitz.org

“The Secret Lives of Bumble Bees: Nesting and Overwintering” A bumble bee emerging from its burrow in the ground.

Where do bumble bees build their homes? Where do they spend the winter? And how do you protect bumble bees if their nests * overwintering sites are almost impossible to find? Join us to get all the answers! 🐝
🗓️Oct 2 at 10am PT / 1pm ET
🔗Register for this free event: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

“Researchers Find Widespread Pesticides on Urban Butterfly Plants” A monarch butterfly feeding from a pink milkweed flower in an urban garden.

Researchers at Xerces & @unevadareno.bsky.social tested the plants butterflies use in two major cities—nearly all had pesticides, many at lethal levels. Every step to reduce pesticide use is a win.
Learn more ➡️ xerces.org/news/organiz...
Find safer alternatives to pesticides ➡️ xerces.org/pesticides

YouTube video by The Xerces Society Bitter Nectar, Toxic Pollen: Pollinators and Plant Chemicals

Plants use more than color to talk to pollinators - there’s a whole world of chemical communication, too! In this #BugBanterPodcast, we dive into the intriguing world of plant chemistry! 🌻🐝
Audio & transcript 🔗
xerces.org/bug-banter/b...
Video w/ captions ⤵️
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVpE...

Join us on September 30th @ 10 AM PT for a tour of our 2024 renewal report: Buzzing with Biodiversity! We think you will find inspiration for your own community's pollinator conservation and pesticide reduction work.

Register here today! ➡ beecityusa.org/events

#BeeCityUSA #BeeCampusUSA

How to Collect Seeds From Milkweed: A Pod and a Plan Harvesting local milkweed seed for later planting is a great way to increase monarch breeding habitat. We'll teach you how to harvest and separate the fluff from the good stuff.

As with comedy, harvesting milkweed seed is all about timing! 🦋🌸🦋

In this blog, we’ll explore some methods of harvesting milkweed seed, separating the truth from the fluff.

Leave the Leaves or Lose the Insects | Bug Banter Podcast Leave the leaves has become something of a rallying cry and discussion topic in recent years. When the weather starts to cool and leaves begin to fall, we’re presented with a valuable wildlife and…

Fall is right around the corner! When the weather starts to cool and leaves begin to fall, we’re presented with a valuable wildlife and gardening resource — leaves!🍂🐝🍂

Audio & transcript 🔗
xerces.org/bug-banter/l...
Video w/ captions ⤵️
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEwO...

Job Title: Freshwater Mussel Conservation Biologist
🌎Location: Based in Pacific Northwest, preferably NW Oregon or SW Washington
💲Compensation: $62,857 per year
📅Application deadline: Open until filled

Learn more and apply at recruiting.paylocity.com/Recruiting/J...

“Spray first, ask questions later”? Not anymore!

Last week, a federal judge in Oregon confirmed the legal duty of APHIS to consider preventive measures in its program, rather than blindly spraying insecticides on millions of acres of public land across 17 western states.

xerces.org/press/court-...

In this episode, we will be taking a closer look at the monarch butterfly, but we won’t be talking about milkweed or nectar plants, or the migration and overwintering sites – at least, not directly. No, our focus is on pesticides and monarchs. 🦋🌸🦋

Audio & transcript 🔗 xerces.org/bug-banter/m...

Just like us, caterpillars need to eat! These super plants are habitat hotspots for western butterfly and moth caterpillars! 🦋🌸🦋

xerces.org/blog/these-s...

#wildlife #wildlifeconservation #conservation #bugs #invertebrates #nature #wildlife #science #butterfly #butterflies #savethebutterflies

“The State of the Bees” A bumble bee feeding on a yellow flower.

How are U.S. bee species faring in light of the major threats they're facing? 🐝
Join our bee experts for this overview of which bees are safe and which are struggling, and how we are studying those questions!
🗓️Aug 14 at 10am PT / 1pm ET
🔗Register for this free event: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

We are still looking for new Xerces Ambassadors, especially people based in or near Portland, OR (where Xerces is headquartered)! If helping your community learn about wildlife and conservation sounds fun, get your applications in by August 10th! ⤵️

There's a little over a week left to apply for this job! Be sure to finish your applications by August 11th.

Fireflies never cease to amaze me

Are Fireflies Going Extinct? Here Are Six Ways To Make Sure They Survive Is this the last generation to see fireflies? We don’t think so. But we need to take action now to ensure they’re here to stay.

Social media is abuzz—not just with reports of fireflies, but with a startling claim: that this is the last generation to experience their dazzling light show. 🪲💡
Our firefly team has been getting this question for weeks, so today we are bringing you some answers!⤵️
xerces.org/blog/are-fir...

“Monarchs and Pesticides: Understanding the Risks, Creating High-Quality Habitat” A monarch butterfly feeding on the nectar of a yellow flower.

We almost forgot to post about tomorrow's event here on Bsky (sorry!), but there's still time to register!
Join us to learn some practical steps you can take to create high-quality habitat for monarchs!
🗓️Jul 31 at 10am PT / 1pm ET
🔗Register for this free event: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

“How You Can Protect Moths and Other Nighttime Pollinators” A white-lined sphinx moth hovering in front of a pink flower.

This #NationalMothWeek, help the pollinators on the night shift!
🦋Avoid pesticide use in your garden
🌸Plant a diversity of native plants
💡Reduce artificial lighting at night
🍂Leave a little wild space for moths to shelter and grow
Get started at xerces.org/resources

International Monarch Monitoring Blitz The International Monarch Monitoring Blitz is a call to action for individuals, organizations and community scientists across North America to join

The 2025 #MonarchBlitz starts TODAY! 🦋
To take part in this tri-national initiative, simply go outdoors and share your observations of monarch butterflies (in all their stages) and milkweed plants through one of the participating community science programs ⤵️
www.cec.org/internationa...