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Monarch Migration Update: September 22, 1999
Today's Report Includes:
- Highlights Along the Migration Trail
- This Week's Migration Data
- Hurricane Floyd & Monarch Migration
- Where Are Florida Monarchs Going? Challenge Question #6
- Rivers of Monarchs Leave Ontario
- Midwest Monarchs Moving Through MO, IL and KS
- How High Do Monarchs Fly? Challenge Question #7
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Highlights Along the Migration Trail |
During the last week, 60 people reported migrating monarchs! Only brief comments follow, but you can read all observers' comments in our database (simply press the "Owl" button on any page.) For sightings reported this week, see:
Students may want to map the following sightings as "Highlights Along the Migration Trail". Thanks
to everyone who's helping to track the migration by reporting sightings. We wish we had room here for them all!
Hurricane Floyd & Monarch Migration
Last week we watched with concern as people along the East Coast waited out Hurricane Floyd. After the storm passed, observers all along the Coast--from Maine to Florida--commented about the abundance of migrating monarchs there.
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"There were thousands and thousands of Monarchs heading south-southwest at Fort Foster in Kittery, ME. I attempted to do a count but, after 100 in less than a minute, I gave up."
Gillian Cusack of St. Mary Academy in Kittery, ME (wges@prodigy.net)
New Hampshire: September 19
"Over 100 Monarchs were sighted on a patch of black-eyed Susans on my property in New Hampshire. What a wonderful sight!!
937855067 MORE Update 09/19/99
Sandra Willoughby of Pomfret Community School, Haverhill, NH (swillo@neca.com)
Connecticut: September 18
"While at Ocean Beach in New London, CT on Saturday evening, our family saw over 30 monarchs. Most were flying at an altitude of 10-20 feet. Many were heading southwest along the shoreline; some were just fluttering back and forth and occasionally landing on the sand for brief rests."
Susan Maxon of New London, CT (susanmaxon@juno.com)
Massachusetts: September 18
"Approximately 100 Monarchs were seen today on Shore Drive in Magnolia, MA along the rocky coast by the ocean." Lynn Feather reporting from Magnolia, MA (ldmderstar@aol.com)
Massachusetts: September 18
"WOW! 1000 monarchs nectaring on seaside goldenrod at Eastern Point, Gloucester, MA (tagged 85). Saturday (9/18) was very clear after Hurricane Floyd swept out late Thurs. In spite of winds from the southwest, monarchs seen streaming south as late as 5:45 PM.at beach north of Eastern Point. The next day at the same time, only 30 or so were in a small patch of goldenrod where there were 200 the day before. Did not see any flying south. Why were so many bucking the southerly winds the day before and many fewer moving south today on 'ideal' northeasterly winds?"
Fran Ludwig reporting from Gloucester, MA (ludwig@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us)
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"We walked out to the lighthouse point and there were monarchs everywhere. It seemed they were coming in from the ocean with the prevailing wind. There were at least hundreds of monarchs, but probably during the course of the day it had to be at least in the low thousands. I have never seen anything like this. A mystery of nature unfolding about us. Just Beautiful."
Frank Tedone of Cromwell, CT reporting for Watch Hill, RI (ftedone@snet.net)
New York: September 18
Hello from Kerhonkson, New York! This past week we have experienced terrible rain and wind due to the passing tropical storm, formerly Hurricane Floyd. However, the monarchs survived because over the weekend we saw many monarchs flying over our wild fields. There has been a lot of activity, we just hope (our) monarchs will still have time to make the journey south. Keeping an eye out."
Kerhonkson Elementary 4th Grade in Kerhonkson, NY (rdepew@rondout.k12.ny.us)
New York: September 18
"Thousands of Monarchs sighted following the Long Island Atlantic Coast (going west) on the Easthampton beach and several hundred yards inland. This is right after Hurricane Floyd passed two nights before. There were some yesterday but many more today (9/18/99)." Gordon Matheson of Easthampton, NY (gogm@worldnet.att.net)
New York: September 20
"Literally hundreds of south-going monarchs sighted today on the upper west side of Manhattan. I first noticed one out my kitchen window over the roof of the neighboring brownstone. Walking west on W. 92nd street, say at least 20 gliding and flying southerly. At least 100 were having a nectar meal at the neighborhood flower garden in Riverside Park. What a joy to have been there!" Betty Marolla of Allen-Stevenson School, NY, NY (marollab@earthlink.net)
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"Rochester, NY was between a cold front from Canada and the west margin of hurricane Floyd's rain shield on 9/16/99. Several hundred monarchs were observed, in groups of from 3-8, moving south on the air currents. It caught the attention of the media, and since the butterflies were riding the high currents, they could be observed through office building windows."
Gary Hughes of Rochester, NY (gary.hughes@westgroup.com)
Virginia: September 19
"The Monarchs are here in force. After Hurricane Floyd I am seeing 20 an hour. All butterflies (tagged) were in excellent condition and showing definite migration flight." Jim Turk of Arlington, VA (jturk13785@aol.com)
Virginia: September 18
"Was worried about what had how the monarchs had weathered Hurrican Floyd - although we missed the brunt of the storm, we still had very high winds and some heavy rains. Yesterday (the day after Floyd, 9/17/99), however, saw 12 monarchs drifting pretty much due south in the space of 20 minutes. The weather was beautiful - blue skies, in the low 70s, with some left-over wind gusts. A friend and I watched the monarchs, cheering them on."
Catherine Waterhouse of Orlean, VA (swater@erols.com)
Florida: September 14
"While driving west to escape hurricane Floyd, I counted 33 monarchs during a one hour period while I was stuck in traffic on Interstate 10 just west of Tallahassee, FL. One of my informational sources suggests that some monarchs may over-winter in Florida. Another suggests that monarchs from the Eastern seaboard may migrate through the Florida panhandle before crossing the Gulf on their way to the Yucatan Peninsula. I'm curious to know where the monarchs I saw were going, and where they came from. In contrast, I have not sighted any monarchs recently in my home town of Ft. Pierce on the Atlantic Coast."
Allison Bailey of Citrus Elementary reporting from Tallahassee, FL
(bailey_a@popmail.firn.edu)
Where Are Florida Monarchs Going?
Challenge Question #6
Can you answer Ms. Bailey's question about the destination of Florida monarchs? And why do scientists think it's probably not possible for monarchs to cross the Gulf to Mexico and land on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula?"
(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions
below.)
Rivers of Monarchs Leave Ontario
The migration peaked last week at points across southern Ontario. Long-time monarch tagging expert Don Davis reported monarchs pouring through Toronto last week:
Ontario: September 16
"Over the past few days in Toronto, I have seen many monarchs moving through Canada's largest city--all heading southward, soaring high down our major streets and natural corridors such as river valleys. I was astonished by the river of monarchs that was moving directly west at the Leslie Street Spit today (09/16/99). They moved with considerable energy and a sense of urgency - some soaring very high up in the sky. I paced out an 80-foot area (north and south) and twice measured the number of monarchs that passed east to west through this small area for a one minute period. My counts were 20 and 22 monarchs respectfully. The day was sunny, temperature about 70 F., winds out of the west. Some stands of goldenrod, sheltered from the wind by trees, would often contain 20 to 30 monarchs. In two hours with little effort, I captured 250 monarchs to tag later. No need to run after monarchs. Just stand there and net them as they flew directly towards you! In short, there were many thousands of monarchs."
Don Davis in Toronto, ON (donald.davis@utoronto.ca)
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"Wow! Everywhere I drove today, the graceful fluttering of monarch wings could be seen. I will be sad to see them go."
Ms. Dodd, Tecumseh P.School, Mississauga, ON (johnandshelley.dodd@sympatico.ca)
Ontario: September 15
"Monarchs soaring and flying between 6 to 50 ft above ground, heading west parallel to Lake Ontario or 10 deg inland, some flying 45 deg from lake. Counts per minute across a line from the zenith to the lakeshore 200 ft to south averaged 5.7/min. (3,5,5,8,7,7,11,11,8,6,6,6,2,0,1, rain began). At Spencer Smith Park, NW corner of Lake Ontario, monarchs often are concentrated here as they try to stay over the land flying southwest along the lake."
Ronald Dermot, Fisheries and Oceans, Burlington, ON (dermottr@dfo-mpo.gc.ca)
Ontario: September 16
"My grade two class is still making sightings of monarchs in the area (Battersea, Ontario is the school location 30 minutes north of Kingston, Ontario.) We are excited about the opportunity to be the reporters of the very last one we see in the area...stay tuned for this..."
Ms. Jamieson's Class of Storrington Public School(3caj11@queensu.ca)
Midwest Monarchs Now Moving Through MO, IL and KS
During the past week, many migrating monarchs were reported from MO, IL and KS. Observers there should see the migration peak this week, just as occurred the week of September 23, 1998. Scattered sightings of early migrants have also been reported from OK and TX. Monarchs from the Midwestern states usually arrive there in great numbers in early October.
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"WOW! A friend's son spotted a swarm of more than 100 monarchs today. He reports they were in a big group, like a cloud. Also a high school science teacher had her class outside counting monarchs and counted 150 in a 90 minute period."
Lewiston, MO (loon@marktwain.net)
Missouri: September 17 & 18
"The migration is on! The dates for this major migration are September 17 and 18, 1999. As I drove the 200 miles home to Columbia, MO I saw many, many Monarchs flying south yesterday (9/17/99), and they are flying this morning also. I saw about 25 in 15 minutes moving southwest here in Columbia this morning (9/18/99)".
Doug LeDoux of Columbia, MO (MELYRID@aol.com)
September 17: Kansas
"At dusk, there were hundreds of Monarchs roosting in tall cottonwood trees within the Baker Wetlands. We have not been observing numbers of Monarchs in flight over Lawrence High School."
Ken Highfil of Lawrence High School in Lawrence, KS(khighfil@raven.cc.ukans.edu)
Missouri: September 17
"Here in the south central Missouri Ozarks, two of my students and I spotted
what we believe to be our first migrating Monarchs this morning. We saw about a half dozen monarchs moving in a southerly direction and up quite high, above the treetops. Occasionally, one would meander down lower, even landing on the ground (for dew?, not much blooming after our recent drought), but they were very skittish and we could not net them. Upon disturbance, they went back up high, even out of sight ('course these *are* 49 year old eyes, so maybe not that high."
Bill Wells of Summersville High School in Summerville, MO (wellsb@hs.summersville.k12.mo.us)
How High Do Monarchs Fly?
Mr. Wells raises an interesting question about the heights of monarch flight. So we asked Dr. Bill Calvert:
Q. How high do monarchs fly?
A. "It depends largely on wind direction. Let's take the simple case of winds blowing from the wrong direction. That is, winds blowing opposite to the direction the monarchs are trying to fly. During fall migration, this means winds with is a strong southerly component to them. (In meteorology wind direction is the direction the wind is coming from).
"During days with southerly winds, monarchs fly very low. Or, if the winds are strong enough, they don't fly at all. They wait patiently in low areas with lots of trees (if available) for the winds to turn around. During these times (winds from the south), they mysteriously accumulate. This is when they form their gigantic roosts and people are dazzled by large curtains of hanging butterflies at night and early morning.
"When the winds turn around the story is very different. During a typical morning with correct winds, monarchs will burst out of their roosts after they have warmed themselves enough to fly. Remember they are cold blooded creatures (poikilotherms in scientific lingo) and must depend on sunlight (radiation) to warm their flight muscles.
"Once they leave the roost they may fly to a point in full sun where they bask some more or they may search for a morning thermal, and ride the rising air upward, twisting and turning like a feather caught in the wind. If the thermals are strong they may rise until we can see them no more. Normally a group of migrants consists of butterflies flying at many levels. Some will be within 100 feet of the ground. Others will rise so high that they disappear, even from binocular view.
Challenge Question #7
"At what altitude do monarchs disappear from view? Describe a simple experiment you could do to test this. In your experiment test the height monarchs disappear from view, both from the naked eye and when using binoculars."
(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions
below.)
Q. How much of their migration time do they spend high in the sky, and how much do they spend down where they
can be seen?
A. "It's hard to say with certainty but, during days with good winds, monarchs seem to fly at least 3/4 of
a day, say from 8:30 to 5:30. Sometimes they will stay up until just about dark. In deserts they come down much
earlier, perhaps as early as noon. It's not known what brings them down. But the opportunity to nectar (the view
of a flower field) and too much heat may be factors.
Q. What's the highest you've heard they've ever gone? Do they go as high as the clouds?
A. "Glider pilots have reported monarch flying as high as eleven thousand feet. If they fly at 11,000 feet
they could certainly be above some clouds. Clouds help to spot monarchs. That is, you can see a monarch against
a cloud much more easily than you can see one in clear air. If you saw a group of them against a cloud, and knew
the height at which clouds began that day, you would at least know the upper limit for the group you were observing.
How to Respond to Today's Monarch Challenge Questions
IMPORTANT: Please answer ONLY ONE question in each e-mail message!
1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-monarch@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question #6 (or #7).
3. In the body of EACH message, answer ONE of the questions above.
The Next Monarch Migration Update Will be Posted on September 29, 1999
Copyright 1999 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form
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