Date: 08/22/2009
Number: 1
Report from the Monarch Butterfly Research Project in Rapid River, Michigan:
August 31
Haven't seen many monarchs at all the past few days. We did have a strong northwest wind over the weekend, but rain all day Saturday. Low of 45 degrees last night. This mornings roost count at 7:00 am was 12. My observation time: I was watching for 45 minutes.
August 26
We had a small group of monarchs move through. North winds the night before and during the day. Morning roost count at 7:00 am was 94. 10:00 am route census was 19. 3:00 pm route census was 13. My observation time: I was watching for 2 hours total.
August 23
This mornings roost count was 244 around 7:00 am. As the temperatures warmed up to around 60 degrees the monarchs were leaving the roost and flying south over Lake Michigan towards Wisconsin. My observation time: I was watching for 2 hours and 30 minutes.
August 22
Counted 463 monarchs this afternoon at 3:00 pm on Stonington Peninsula. I'm sure there were more in the area. Perfect conditions, strong northwest wind, temperatures in the high 50's. They were gathering all day and appear to be staying the night. They will probably move south tomorrow with predictions of a light north wind. My observation time: I was watching for 8 hours
August 21
On Stonington Peninsula at 7:30 pm there was a group of 75-80 monarchs roosting on a cedar tree near the lighthouse. We had very strong northwest winds all day long which helps flush them down our peninsula where they gather at the point.
August 18
Nothing much to report so far. This has been a crazy summer up here with cooler temperatures. We didn't see many summer monarchs at all and so far haven't seen any large groups migrating. We started counting on August 8th and go through the month of September. Hopefully we'll see more monarchs moving through soon.
Rapid River, MI
Latitude: 45.7 Longitude: -87
Observed by: Gina
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