Date: 09/09/2010

Number: 200

September 11
By 10:00am the majority of the roost was gone except a handful of Monarchs. The wind changed direction and is now coming from the West right at them. Perhaps they have moved on or have found another tree.

September 10
9:00am the butterflies were waking up and flitting back and forth from tree to tree. They don't appear to be traveling today. The wind is coming from the SW and is fairly strong. I estimate there to be approximately 200, on the conservative side.

At about 7:00pm we observed the Monarchs were still roosting, however it appeared their numbers had increased and they were more concentrated in the tree. We experienced storms most of the afternoon and evening and they weathered them well, having roosted on the NE of the tree,they seemed to know it was coming.

September 9
Came home this evening at 7:00 pm to find both of our maple trees covered with clusters of Monarchs settling in for the night. They had slowed down in their travels the last couple of days and I thought we had reached the tail end, however tonight was a nice surprise.

Photographs can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ckrofone/

Clear Lake, IA

Latitude: 43.2 Longitude: -93.4

Observed by: Elizabeth
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