Highlights
from the Migration Trail
The
word came first from Ontario this year, and the date was only August
3rd. Mr. David Brown of Kingston wrote:
"Although
monarchs have been fluttering by for many days without much hint
of directional flight, I saw about 50 monarchs this morning flying
in a south to southwest direction, indicating that migration seems
to have begun in this part of the world."
Do
monarchs migrate earlier than the science books say? Before the
Internet, collecting such an observation would have been hard. Now,
"citizen scientists" are contributing to the understanding
of monarch migration. We hope you're ready to help!
As
the migration begins across eastern Canada and the United States
people are thrilled by high monarch numbers:
-
"We have noticed a drastic increase in Monarchs this year.
In years past we were fortunate to see a few. They are in the
air wherever we go. It is great to see!"
- "I
was sitting on the shore of Lake Ontario and watched hundreds
of monarchs appear from the lake, land on the flowers, and then
continue south," wrote Elaine Williams of Finger Lakes Secondary
School in New York.
-
On Monday, Mr. David Burnet and his wife were driving down the
Genesee Valley Greenway and were suddenly surrounded by thousands
of Monarchs!
- Also
on Monday, Fay Matthews-Garcia spotted monarchs in her backyard
in St. Catharines, Ontario. She hoped they’d arrive by the
hundreds as once before. “Well, this time they picked the
neighbour’s yard and are there now by the hundreds. Why
here? We assume because it is the first land after flying across
Lake Ontario," she noted.
Reports
from the Midwest have been unusually scarce:
- "What
happened?" asked Tom Murphy of Cannon Falls, MN. "In
May and June it looked like it was going to be a great year for
monarchs." But very few monarchs are visiting his flower
farm this year. "I just walked out to my flower patch and
there were only 15 or so. Most years I would have hundreds or
thousands...We did have quite a drought in this area, virtually
no rain for over 4 weeks and many days in the 90's."
Typically,
over half of the monarchs that migrate to Mexico come from the Midwest's
Corn Belt. Did the drought affect the population? Let's see what
people report in the next few weeks. |
What
does monarch migration look like? |