Date: 09/27/2011

Number: 1500

September 29
Temp is 62 deg with scattered showers with the sun poking out of clouds between the showers. 40 Monarchs observed in a 15 minute time frame moving south west along the cliffs on Lake Erie's north shore. Many butterflies were stopping to get a quick snack on asters, golden rod and red clover before taking flight again. The weather tomorrow is supposed to be very cold (50 deg F or less for a daily high) and very windy with gale warnings posted along the lake but warming up nicely again next week. It's not unusual to see migrating Monarchs at Clearville Park until mid October and even early November as happened in 2009.

September 27
Beautiful sunny day today with light winds at Clearville Park. I estimate about 1500 butterflies per hour passing through along the cliffs on Lake Erie's north shore. These numbers continued for several hours until the wind shifted in the afternoon. When there is an off-shore wind the butterflies are concentrated along the lake side and easily observed. When there is an on-shore wind the butterflies get redirected further inland and are not visible from this location. The butterflies are heading toward Rondeau Park and Pt Pelee where they cross the lake to Ohio. There are lots of migrating dragon flies heading in the same direction.

September 23
Rained most of today but clouds broke and sun come out around 4:00 PM. Butterflies resumed migration along the cliffs on the north shore of Lake Erie. I counted 60 butterflies in 10 minutes which continued for about 1 hour until it clouded over again.

Clearville Park, ON

Latitude: 42.5 Longitude: -81.7

Observed by:
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