Date: 09/29/2002

Number: 1

Friday I checked a roost that was close to 250 in Oklahoma City. The roost we tagged at Saturday morning was 200 yards south of the Friday roost and contained about 400.

Sunday we checked the two roosts, they contained between 1500 to 1700 combined. Only tagged at one of the roosts on Sunday starting at 7 AM. After running out of tags we walked through the second roost. The temp had warmed and the Monarchs were moving off the roost through the trees. It was a wonderful sight to stand underneath with hundreds flying off the trees only a few feet overhead!

Two observations: The roost we tagged at Sunday was the same one I tagged at in 1997 and that year it contained over 13,000 on 9-27-97. Also, we noticed that about 200 monarchs continued to stay in the dense undergrowth of the roost all day Sunday even though it was sunny, 90+ and a major nectar source available only 150 feet away.

A cold front is expected through Thursday/Friday and the temp will drop 20 degre

Oklahoma City, OK

Latitude: 35.4 Longitude: -97.5

Observed by:
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