Peak Migration Now in Nebraska September 13, 2000 09/06/00 York, NE (40.84 N, -97.54 W) Butterflies rest and refuel in York, Nebraska. Photos courtesy of Gayle Kloewer "The first of the migrating monarchs have arrived here in York (9/6). We figure they came in that night when a cold front came through. The wind changed around to the northeast and it was much cooler the following day. There were tons of butterflies here over the weekend (9/9 & 9/10). They were nectaring on butterfly bushes, alfalfa, rose bushes, and other flowering plants. They were on trees in Cherry Hill and in our backyards. Unfortunately, some were on our cars' grills. It was very hot over the weekend and windy out of the south. We hope a cold front comes through to cool us off. People from all over town have told stories about the butterflies in their backyards." York Middle School (gkloewer@esu6.esu6.k12.ne.us) 09/07/00 Lincoln, NE (40.81 N, -96.71 W) "The Monarchs have arrived in Lincoln, NE! Hundreds are roosting in the trees of the common ground behind our home." (ppr@gowebway.com) 09/09/00 Omaha, NE (41.26 N, -95.93 W) "On Sept 9, I was wandering through a park in Omaha, NE. The trees were dripping with monarchs that seemed to be resting. As I walked by I was surrounded by 1000's of them. I went back Sunday (09/10) and there were still probably a 1000 or more. On 9/11 the monarchs were still there, resting up before their long trip. Weather in Omaha had been in the 90's for the last week with no rain and high humidity. I last saw them around 2:30pm. A slight cold front move through about 4pm. It went from hot and humid to cool, mild and breezy. I checked on the monarchs around 6pm. They were gone, all of them!" (deanne_kayj@hotmail.com) 09/09/00 Hastings, NE (40.55 N. -98.36 W) "Monarchs in large numbers have been spotted all through our town, even though temps have been high here (90's to 100 F). I checked on Friday night and found about 500 monarchs to tag. When I checked again Saturday night the number was about 200. Students have recovered about 100 on Friday and Saturday." Morton School (jkoch@esu9.esu9.k12.ne.us) 09/10/00 North Bend, NE (41.50 N, -96.78 W) "Hundreds of monarchs have been sighted in North Bend, NE. The last sighting was in a grove of cedar trees....100's of them. We tagged and released 100 monarchs on 9/6/00." North Bend Central (bgrueber@mail.esu2.org) 09/11/00 Fort Calhoun, NE (41.43 N, -96.02 W) "This past weekend was filled with many sightings. After we tallied our individual sightings there were 220 monarchs seen. Some were in groups of 20-30. Others were 10-12 in a 15 minute time. There was one sighting of about 50 at a golf course around the area being watered. When school was out this afternoon there were 5 around our Butterfly Bush. On Sept. 6th as we sat outside for 20 minutes we spotted 10 flying through our playground area. We have all decided Monarch Migration is an exciting time." Ft. Calhoun Elementary (mlul@hotmail.com) Copyright 2000 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form