Date: 03/16/2011

Number: 1

I think the SC costal wintering monarchs are now dispersing, probably both northward along the coast and inland a bit. The weather over the past two weeks has been quite unseasonably mild – much like typical early April weather, with daytime highs averaging ~65-70 0F. Many perennials are beginning to sprout, likely including swallow-wort along the immediate coast and Asclepias sps. a bit further inland.

I visited my winter monarch sites (Folly Beach and Ft. Johnson) several times over the past 10 days, and I have made no additional recoveries of tagged monarchs. In fact, I have seen no monarchs at Ft. Johnson since 22 Feb, despite my having spent much time there over the past 3 weeks. On 5 Mar, I saw 2 monarchs, one at middle Folly Beach where I had previously tagged and recovered several monarchs and the other on Sol Legare Island (32041’09.70”N / 79057’38.03”W). I was not able to capture either, but I saw both well enough that I feel fairly sure that neither was tagged. On 13 Mar, I saw 2 monarchs at SW Folly Beach (32038’49.16”N / 79057’29.13”W), both of which I captured and tagged. Despite searching in this area on prior “winter” trips, I had not previously seen monarchs in this area – though there is lots of blooming dandelion in the area.

I saw no monarchs elsewhere on Folly on 13 Mar. On 14 Mar, I searched the full length of Folly Beach and only saw one monarch, which I captured and tagged. It was in the same middle Folly area where I had previously made most of my monarch sightings since Jan 1.

Since I have made no additional recoveries of (nor have I seen) tagged monarchs, and since I’ve seen fewer monarchs per search-effort, I think they are dispersing.

Folly Beach, SC

Latitude: 32.7 Longitude: -80

Observed by:
Contact Observer

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