Date: 09/10/2008

Number: 1

This afternoon, while on my way to do a talk in St. George I stopped in at Point Lepreau with the hope today’s strong westerly winds might have blown some inland Monarchs to the Bay of Fundy coast. I wasn’t disappointed.

Although I traveled from Saint John to Fredericton and back to Lepreau during the morning, I didn’t see a single Monarch until about 1:30 PM when I arrived at the very tip of Point Lepreau, which is the usual accumulating spot when conditions are right. I immediately began seeing Monarchs nectaring on the thistle, goldenrod and asters that bloom in profusion near the bird observatory.

I would estimate I saw between 200 and 300 Monarchs during the three hours I was there and caught and tagged 78, which is the best one-day total I’ve done in the three years I’ve been tagging. While I was taking butterflies out of the net a constant trickle of them was passing, all headed southwest, into the teeth of the wind.

This fall the Monarch migration along the Bay has been slower than in 2006 or 2007. Richard B. and I had made earlier visits to Point Lepreau on August 15th and September 2nd and saw very few and I had not seen many elsewhere until today.

Courtesy of Monarch Watch

Point Lepreau, NB

Latitude: 45.1 Longitude: -66.5

Observed by:
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