Date: 09/26/2011

Number: 4000

Arrived on 9/26/11 and still here (9/29) in the thousands in my yard, feeding on pecan, oak, landscaping, including salvia (red Tex.) in full bloom. Usually sighted every year but this year my yard must be an oasis due to drought because they are dense, seemingly hanging on every leaf and flower. (Magical!)

As to numbers, I’d guess three or four thousand at peak. We live very rural. The drought has been devastating...nothing grew in the vegetable garden, and really not much even germinated with irrigation. Non-irrigated pastures are bare. Tanks are dry. Central Texas has to this point registered 90 days of 100 degrees or more...and this started in May. Trees are dying/dead all over the hilltops, even the mesquite and prickly pear is suffering. However, my yard of less than 1/4 acre has had the benefit of daily irrigation to stay green (primarily for wildfire protection) but also to keep the flowers blooming for Hummers and to save the big pecan trees(lost one of them to the 2009 drought). So, this little spot is probably an oasis of sorts this year, but how did so many of the Monarchs find it, a needle in a haystack? One other note, the barn swallows left several weeks ago, at least a month ahead of time, because of food shortage, I think. Hope the Monarchs tanked up enough here to make it to the next green spot farther south, wherever that may be.

September 30
We had a cold front with RAIN overnight, so where yesterday there were thousands of Monarchs, today we have only tens, maybe 50 total. Photos tend to be fuzzy due to windy conditions, but as you can see, the remaining butterflies tend to be getting nectar primarily from the native red salvia, but also appear to be getting something from the pecan leaves and an althea (rose-of-sharon). A couple of my ten foot tall altheas did show evidence of aphids last week, but the Monarchs did not seem to prefer those bushes any more than anything else. They also hung on to the hummingbird feeders, and probably visited the ground level water troughs (3) around the house perimeter, but I did not witness that specifically. During the three-four days of huge populations, roosting was primarily in the old pecan trees on the north and east of the house. The Hummingbirds too are really busy this morning getting stocked up for their own migration, hitting not only the salvia, but morning glories as well, saving the feeders for later in the day, I think.

Mason, TX

Latitude: 30.7 Longitude: -99.2

Observed by: Dorrett
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