Date: 10/12/2006

Number: 1

A hastily scribed note from just ne of Austin... Brush called and I grabbed a pair of binos and saw a portion of the 1000s of monarchs heading over as I type. Highest count with fixed straight up binos was
37 in 10 seconds...
Mike

rUSHED NOTE....i AM OUT SIDE DOING A HAWK WATCH WITH 1000'S OF
RAPTORS
AT 15:49 WINDS SHIFTED FROM NORTH AND SKY IS FULL OF HIGH ALTITUDE
MONARCHS...EST. 240-300+ SO FAR IN 10MINS....MORE LATER. cHECK IT OUT
AS
FRONT SHOULD JUST BE GETTING THERE, i, M IN UTLEY...Brush

They are coming over is a fairly wide band, riding the front as it passes... Mike

Knowing a front was on the way though not knowing if
it
would reach Bastrop Co., I sat up shop around 10:30AM on a ridge here behind my house in Utley and began watching the skies almost continually until 17:28PM. What a day!

Up until 15:49 I had seen only 9 Monarchs all day, but at exactly 15:49 a wave of those passed by with the first puff of north wind. At the peak of their passage around 16:30PM I counted 209 as seen passing through just one bit of sky between two trees in the yard in only 1 minute (all the time I had for the
butterflies) but I am sure I eventually saw at least a few thousand passing over...some so high I could see them only well in the 20-60x scope.

Monarchs 2500-3000 just an estimate
...Just walked out one final time before sending this and at 17:51 the Monarchs are still just whizzing by in numbers despite a very light sprinkle...Brush

I just spent about 7-8 minutes (19:03)outside looking toward a bright cloud to the east with 10x bins and noticed even that at this late hour in one small view of the sky at least 400 Monarchs passed by in that short time...Brush

Courtesy of Mike Quinn, Texas Department of Fish and Game

UTLEY, TX

Latitude: 30.2 Longitude: -97.4

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