Date: 08/27/2010

Number: 500

August 30
I went back to my friend's yard tonight at about 7:00 pm and found at least 400 - 500 butterflies roosting on the trees. There is a line of about 8 very tall pine trees and then about 4 large maple trees in front of them. The monarchs were roosting on the maple trees and bushes in this group of trees. There is an empty field right to the west of this grove. The wind was from the SSE with about 20 mph gusts. Very breezy. The are protected by the big pine trees. As I approached, they flew around my head and then settled back down. It was great! There are really no nectaring spots in this area. All the neighbors have shrubs, but not many flowers. I did not see any more arriving at the spot as I watched. I think they are just there for the night. This is an increase from what I saw two days ago. Many more. The temp was about 80 degrees yet at that time of the evening. Hot.

August 27
My neighbor in town called me to report a large amount of butterflies in her backyard on some pine trees. I went over and there were maybe 200 of them. I tagged 15 of them that I could net. I am going to go back tomorrow to see if there are more. The weather was nice, 75 degrees, and windy from the northwest. It was about 3:30 pm.

Sauk Centre, MN

Latitude: 45.7 Longitude: -95

Observed by: GINNY
Contact Observer

The observer's e-mail address will not be disclosed.
Contact will be made through a web-based form.