Date: 09/30/2007

Number: 40

My husband and I garden for birds, bees and butterflies. We keep a
healthy
stand of New England Asters so that the butterflies will have this
beacon every year for the flight South. Every late September we watch
the skies for the Monarch to just marvel at the beauty and determination of migration.
The Monarchs roost in the trees around the yard -- maples, tulip
poplars, etc, and we watch in the early mornings as they begin to
emerge to linger to soak up the warm sunlight on the turning leaves of
dogwoods. My goal is to just see the Monarchs each year and know that they are still there.

It was sunny, in the mid-80s, on Sept 30 but windy, with wind mostly from the west, northwest. Thunderstorms were predicted for the night.

In the morning, at table, looking out, the sun was falling on Dogwood leaves that were turning a rusty color, I saw two Monarchs on the leaves warming up and drying out from the dew. On the Buddleia, which is in the sun most of the day, six to eight Monarchs were on it throughout the day gathering nectar. On the New England Asters, where Monarchs usually gather, there were none but bees gathering pollen covered the flowers. Monarchs that were flying seemed to fly randomly because they seemed to be floating around the lower tree branches.

Between 3:00 and 3:20 pm, on 9/30/07, I was carrying a bucket of water to some plants and passed under an allee of Silver Maples, Dogwoods and Redbuds with under shrubs Purple Spirea, Forsythia and Common Mock Orange. Sun filtered through the leaves. I may have disturbed a resting or roosting area because 30 to 40 Monarchs swarmed out of the branches and softly flew in swirling patterns over my head then spread out. About 10 minutes later, I walked back into the area and several Monarchs had settled back on the Mock Orange shrub.

Around sundown, about 6:30 pm, three Monarchs flew into the lower branches of Silver Maples

Mountain View, MO

Latitude: 37 Longitude: -91.7

Observed by:
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