Date: 09/20/2010

Number: 15000

On Monday at sunset over 15,000 monarchs were counted at the Wise Point Roost located at the very bottom of the Eastern Shore of Virginia peninsula. The Wise Point Roost is a non-public area under the jurisdiction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge.

Kaitlyn Parkins, tagger for the Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory (CVWO), described the winds as from the north. The Bay side of Wise Point has several low-lying Virginia Pine trees. The Refuge side has both Pine trees and dense Cherry trees. Kaitlyn counted @ 300 monarchs in the pines on the Bay side with the majority of the monarchs roosting on the Refuge side in the Cherry trees. This is the largest number of monarchs documented at the Wise Point Roost. In 1999, over 50,000 monarchs were counted on Fisherman Island NWR. Fisherman Island NWR is located just south of Wise Point, connected by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

Courtesy of Monarch Watch

Wise Point, VA

Latitude: 37.1 Longitude: -76

Observed by:
Contact Observer

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