Date: 09/08/2011

Number: 1

Nice fallout in my butterfly garden today. At least six monarchs fed and placed eggs on milkweed all day.

Just to clarify (writing 9/11/11), monarchs are streaming across Lake Pontchartrain the past several days. They actually follow the 24 mile bridge down the center of the lake from North to South and are hard to miss. I have friends who commute that route every day who told me about the recent monarch traffic on the bridge same day as my "fallout". So hundreds are here in New Orleans as witnessed by an unprecedented six at a time in my yard. I may have fifty large butterflies total and countless skippers, but six monarchs is a big deal for my relatively small yard and a barometer for what is happening across this area. Normally I get one at a time, two is notable. Six - that indicates a fallout here. I am seeing monarchs all over town, but not a hundred or more in any short period of time nor particular location. In the past I have counted two or three monarchs per minute on the Causeway bridge - at 25 minutes to cross that adds up to about 75 in flight. But my friend saw them and did not think to count. The only reason she mentioned it was the six in my yard and I asked if she noticed any on the bridge that day because I figured something was happening.

New Orleans, LA

Latitude: 30 Longitude: -90.1

Observed by: Joey
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