Date: 09/25/2011

Number: 88

Blue Ridge Parkway Field Trip Sep. 24-25, 2011

The trip was timed for around the peak of Monarch migration. There were a few on Saturday, but there were times on Sunday morning when the air seemed full of Monarchs and it was hard to count them all. We were happy with our total of 95 adult Monarchs plus one caterpillar. The total number of butterfly species for the two-day trip was 27, not too bad for a mostly cloudy and cool weekend.

We had expected a beautiful display of late summer wildflowers, and we weren't disappointed. The roadsides and hills were splashed with yellow and white and highlighted with reds and purples. We walked through meadows dotted with clumps of goldenrods, ironweeds and cardinal flowers.

Monarch 7 on the 24th, 88 + 1 caterpillar on the 25th.

Courtesy of Carolina Leps

Blue Ridge Parkway, VA

Latitude: 36.7 Longitude: -80.6

Observed by:
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