Date: 09/03/2010

Number: 100

If you view Dan tower farm on Facebook there is a picture of
monarchs from three days ago (9/3). Yearly Monarchs come through our orchards and I look for their roosts before sundown. When I mowed orchards last week I noticed the unusually large amount of monarchs flying about. My husband is out early enough in the morning to see them just before they take flight. I have only seen them roosting on the east sides of our trees. three years ago I found hundreds roosting high on the treetops. This Year I am seeing roosts at the 7 to 20 foot level -not sure if I am just not finding the higher roosts... I love the way they look like dried leaves hanging off the branches and then slowly one butterfly opens and closes its wings -slowly another follow suit.

We practice IPM (Integrated Pest Mgnt) A Program developed by Cornell Cooperative Extension. Its a lower concentration of spraying than conventional farming - we also let the grasses grow in between the Orchard rows until just before harvest.Perhaps that has something to do with the numerous Monarchs. I have always thought we were on some direct "migration Highway" that the Monarchs use - whether it has something to do with the winds, food availability or a combination - there always appears to be a lot of flying activity.

Editor's Note: This observer did not specify the number of monarchs present. We entered '100' in the number field based on observer’s photograph.

youngstown, NY

Latitude: 43.2 Longitude: -79

Observed by: Iris
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