Date: 09/04/2010

Number: 1

The monarch migration picked up in a major way in central Iowa. At Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, 130 monarchs were observed in 2 1/2 hours, but in the final hour, monarchs were counted at the rate of more than one a minute as they moved south across a prairie hillside. They were traveling singularly and in pairs. Some were floating on the wind, some were speeding, some were chasing each other. The sky was mostly clear, and a light breeze was blowing from the northwest. The movement on this morning was quite different from several previous days when few to no monarchs were counted at the refuge. The cooler weather to the north in Iowa and Minnesota likely contributed to the movement.

Prairie City, IA

Latitude: 41.6 Longitude: -93.3

Observed by: Robert
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