Date: 09/18/2006

Number: 1

September 26
Since Sept. 18th, the numbers of observed Monarchs are decreasing by the day. Today I only spotted one flutterbye, but I couldn't miss this one. I was taking a break at work around noon, and this orange and black came down right in the area I was sitting-all sorts of really neat aerobatic dances for apx 30-45 seconds. That was a hoot to see. Granted, I was inside for 12 hours at work today, so I may have missed a pretty fair number of them. I'll keep looking.

September 24
The last several days have been very slow for spotting Monarchs. I've only seen around 15 in the last two days. I've a feeling the real masses that usually pass through here are still forthcoming.

September 22
On the 19th my fishing partner and I spotted about 10 or 12 Monarchs flying just high enough to avoid being hit by vehicles when we were enroute to my lake located about 20-25 miles NE of Ponca City. We saw them in the midafternoon. I also saw 3 or 4 at various times through the morning hours.All that I saw today were flying 5-15 feet in height with their southern goal on their little Monarch minds obviously. The 19th was a gorgeous day with highs in the mid seventies with light and variable winds. The 20th and 21st we had very high southerly winds from 15-35 mph at least. Naturally no Monarchs were spotted those two days. Today brought much better weather with almost no wind at all and mid seventies again. I spotted a dozen this AM from 10:30-11:30. Looking forward to trying to see some more in the morning.

September 18
I have good news from northcentral Oklahoma. The migration south is on full-force here! With the passing of the latest cool front and today a prevailing northerly breeze, the numbers of the beauties are increasing dramatically with each passing day. This morning I had time to sit in my back yard for about on hour in which time I observed 43 Monarchs heading south. I was delighted to see an entertaining group of three traveling together and doing all kinds of aerobatics on their slow meander to the south. Most all that I saw were flying at a height of 6-15 feet but a few were up there at apx. 15-25 feet high, and those were the fastest passers. The lower ones generally were flying much slower. Temp here this AM was in the lower 60's. Heads up to the friends of JN in Perry, Oklahoma....you should be seeing them very very soon!!

Ponca City, OK

Latitude: 36.7 Longitude: -97.1

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