Date: 08/29/2003

Number: 1

I encountered a massive migration on Friday, August 29th in Glencoe, Minnesota.

I would have missed it entirely had I not remembered Bill Calvert's tip for watching monarch migration during a north wind: "Use binoculars and look beneath the clouds. The butterflies travel way up high and are easier to see against a white backdrop."

Sure enough! Monarchs were flooding southward on the strong north wind (20+ mph). It took a minute or two to train my eye, then suddenly I saw them, zipping by as fast as the wind. I counted 86 in 5 minutes. Each darted across my field of vision in just 5-6 seconds. (In contrast, I saw an average of 7 per minute while driving along the highway.)

The trick was seeing the first one; it seemed to take a minute or two. Then others at higher and higher altitudes came into view. Those highest were tiny dots, so there must have been others too high to be seen even with binoculars. All were traveling in exactly the same direction. They looked like tiny paper airplanes folded identically, with wings pitched for an effortless glide. Had they had vapor trails behind them, like passing jets, every line of travel would have been parallel.

Whenever I took my binoculars down, to look with my naked eye, the entire scene vanished. I couldn't see anything but clouds and blue sky!

I had parked on a quiet dirt road and was using the open car door to steady my hands. At one point a gruff old farmer stopped in his pickup and asked suspiciously if I needed directions. "I'm watching butterflies!" I said exuberantly, pointing at the empty sky."They're migrating to Mexico! Do you want to see?" He broke into a smile, got out of his truck, and we watched together for awhile. (He became, in a word, chatty: "Oh my! There they are! I see them! Why do they fly so high? Does it take much energy to float like that? How long does it take to get to Mexico?" etc.)

As I drove back to the city I just couldn't believe the migration was still taking place right over my head. Twice I stopped to look again. There they were, silently streaming by like shooting stars. As I drove on, I wondered about other everyday miracles that take place beyond our notice.

I also saw many southbound dragonflies, and tree swallows hawking other insects riding high on the winds.

Don't forget your binoculars the next time you go out to see the migration! I couldn't have been more surprised.

Glencoe, MN

Latitude: 44.8 Longitude: -94.2

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