Date: 09/19/2011

Number: 500

September 26
Did really well tonight tagging. We tagged over 30 and released over 50. Roost was filling up tonight. Largest numbers seen so far this season. 500 monarchs. May also have found a new roost on MSU's campus in a massive oak tree. Hundreds of butterflies roosting in this massive tree which was oozing with sap thru it's leaves. Will keep an eye on this tree over the next couple years to see if its a roost or a feeding tree. right now I'm calling it a roost because the hudnreds that were on there were spotted at 06:45 p.m., which is about the time they have been coming in to roost. I was afraid this year the monarchs would be further east of us due to the severe drouhgt and lack of feeding plants, but I guess there is something out there they are fedding on, because these are just down right FAT and healthy monarchs which makes me feel good. The numbers are still not like they were two years ago when I caught monarchs at one time with my net...best this year 12 at one time.

September 25
Numbers are declining. Only about 100 tonight. Tagged 23. I'll have to check other sitting to see where the main group is. Tonight may be my last night...no tags left, and my knee is killing me!

September 24
Caught 48 tonight before it got dark. Tagged 17 of them (because thats all the tags we had left), will keep 31 left in butterfly cage for Master Naturalist that want to come over and use their tags. Total monarchs sighted in roosting area was over 500+.

September 19
This is an annual roosting spot we (Texas Master Naturalist) located about four years ago. This is the beginning of the migration for us, and we spotted about 60+ monarchs and we caught 25 in less than an hour and tagged 20 of them and released. We ran out of tags or else we would have caught many more. Several were mating also.

The monarchs were coming in to roost around 0700 P.M. in the evening. They roost here every year. Its a grove of willows and it forms a tunnel over a shallow wet area that floods sometimes. The main migration pack has not arrived...we figured this was just the leading edge of them. They roost here in the hundreds every year. We accidentally came upon this site a few years ago while tagging them. I'll try to get pictures tonight. One year I caught 46 monarchs in my net at one time...that is how many roost on one limb. They are not that thick so far, but we are hoping.

The Texas Master Naturalist (wife and I are members for the past 6 years also) have been tagging monarchs for the past 6 years. We have noticed a decline in the numbers thru our area. The drought has taken its toll on this area as far as nector producing plants. Good news though, if the monarchs can make it 70 miles south of us, there is ALOT of milkweed and other flowers, sunflowers, and some purple flowers that grow on a short stock (don't know what they are). We have had recent rain over the past couple days and this has help the sunflowers start to bloom in our immediate area, so we hope they find a source of nectar in our area. We did note that the monarchs we are catching seem to be very FAT, so they are getting it somewhere. I suspect these may be coming from further east of us, which has had more rain than us, meaning more flowers in the east.

Here are a few pictures of the area they roost in. The numbers were way down tonight, about 30 - 40. We did manage to catch about 10 and tagged 10 in 30 minutes. One of the pictures is the purple flower I mentioned they were feeding on in the open fields around Wichita Falls. I suspect the main flow of monarchs this year will be more east of us simply because of the lack of nectar producing flowers, due to the drought.

Wichita Falls, TX

Latitude: 34 Longitude: -98.5

Observed by: Jean-Jacques
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