Date: 09/15/2010

Number: 1

September 17
With the northerly winds that Mona spoke about earlier, and a bright sunny day here in Toronto - not overly warm at ground level but the sun exceptionally warm - an excellent southward movement of monarchs south through city streets and roads, transit and subway lines, hydro right-of-ways and so forth. Probably thousands again on the waterfront.

This was most visible where I was - in east Toronto (formerly the City of Scarborough in what was Metropolitan Toronto), just a few kilometers north of Lake Ontario.

September 15
I dropped down to the Toronto waterfront after work today and to the renowned Leslie Street Spit - a huge carpet of goldenrod this time of year - and encountered thousands, if not tens of thousands of monarchs there. Captured about 200 in 1.5 hours, sometimes capturing 4 at a time on a goldenrod stem. Then about 6:15 clouds moved in and with the approaching rains and cold front, they roosted and disappeared ever so suddenly about from the goldenrod. Found a number of small roosts on Manitoba maple and poplar, but there must be a larger roosts in the park. My observations were only from the base of the park near the main entrance. Cyclists who had been much further out report "tons" of monarchs and trees with roosts out there.

Toronto, ON

Latitude: 43.7 Longitude: -79.4

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