Central
region:
It was a rainy week in the Central region, but when the
skies cleared, monarchs were on the move. Notice the late-week action:
9/14/06
Lincoln, NE (40.81 N, -96.71 W)
"Greetings from St. Joseph's School Several students have seen
15-20 Monarchs. Our art teacher has sighted at least 50 Monarchs
roosting in her backyard. One of our maintenance workers sighted
'thousands' in the trees near his farm about ten miles south of
Lincoln."
9/13/06
Prairie City, IA (41.55 N, -93.25 W)
Mr. Robert Woodward counted 266 monarchs in 35 minutes, his highest
count of the season. "In the wake of three days of rain, dampness,
and cool weather, today was sunny and mild, and the monarch butterflies
were on the move once again," he noted.
Eastern
region:
9/11/06
Cape May, NJ (38.97 N, -74.92W)
Keep your eye on Cape May, NJ. Monarchs are being counted there
daily for the 15th year. Last week, the monitors saw 25 monarchs/hour,
compared to 32/hour the year before. You can compare 15 years' of
migration along the Atlantic Coast. Take a look.
>>
9/12/06
West Granby, CT (41.95 N, -72.86W)
Anna, Emmett & Elliott, home school students in West Granby,
CT saw three monarchs in three towns, and each was flying to the
southwest. "Any chance one of our second sightings was actually
the first monarch we saw at 12:30?” they wondered.
Amazingly,
that question has been answered. A Connecticut family went on a
picnic one day 50 miles from home, and found a monarch that they
had tagged themselves, 5 days earlier! Read this and other tagging
stories, and see how much a few tiny butterflies can teach us about
migration. |
Calculate
the "Migration Rate"
Please
report your sightings AND tell us how long you were watching.
Why
is this important? Try some migration rate math and you'll
see.
For example, if one person sees 100 monarchs in an hour
and another sees 100 monarchs in a minute, who
saw a stronger migration?
Here's
a chance to practice your migration math:
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