About
this photo: These monarchs were among the
millions that traveled down the Texas Gulf
Coast last week in what is being described by Mike
Quinn of Texas Parks and Wildlife as "perhaps
the most massive coastal migration in a decade."
A cloud of monarchs extended at least 200 miles
along the coast, from Houston to Corpus Christi.
People who witnessed the event continued to send
in their sightings for the following 10 days. On
the same day that this photo was taken, a man who
was 120 miles offshore on an gas/oil platform saw
large numbers of monarchs passing, suggesting many
were blown out to sea. (Monarchs typically migrate
along coastlines and avoid large over-water crossings.)
Here is a series of weather
maps that show the conditions at the time of
the massive migration.
Among
the lucky observers were Becky and Pepper, who were
surf fishing on October 25th on the Bolivar
Peninsula, in Texas (29.5 N, -94.5 W):
