Date: 08/07/2011

Number: 100

We saw 20 monarchs per hour on Sunday afternoon while driving 300 miles for 5 hours from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Jamestown, North Dakota. All except ONE monarch was crossing the road from north to south. The wind was blowing from the north, but yesterday we also saw monarchs crossing the road from north to south during a south wind. I suspect the monarchs were migrating, and that migration from the north begins early in August for many monarchs.

As we drove beyond Jamestown farther west--where habitat conditions are increasingly dry--monarch numbers dropped dramatically. The last monarch we spotted was in Crystal Springs, ND, just 40 miles west of Jamestown.

On our return trip a week and a day later (8/16/11) across South Dakota monarchs were scarce. We only saw 5 monarchs during a 2 hours observation period. The first was in North Eagle Butte, SD and the last in Montevideo, MN.

Jamestown, ND

Latitude: 46.9 Longitude: -98.7

Observed by:
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