Date: 10/01/2011

Number: 1000

October 14
Wed. Oct. 12 / Thurs. Oct. 13 / Friday Oct. 14th - Monarchs are still in Cape May feeding on golden rod, lantana, butterfly bushes, asters, zinnia, roses, geraniums..... We've been getting rain on and off for the last three days but once the sun comes out the butterflies are feeding and flying around. Then they hunker down for the rainy spells and than when the sun comes out they're up and about and the cycle continues. It seems that there are 25- 30 butterflies on one or two bushes, the next yard had another 25 monarchs, and so on. They are spread out around Cape May Point and have had no roosting to speak of. Maybe due to the warm tropical air we've been having. As a cool front approaches, we'll see if we get another influx!

October 11
the early morning was awe inspiring today - pastel color sky with light wispy clouds with monarchs slowing warming up to take to the air. Some flew high in the sky, some circled out to the ocean and than made their way back to the goldenrod, while others just flew from flower to flower and along the dunes eventually finding their way into resident gardens. The winds were coming from all directions today with the fronts moving in. The monarchs held strong during the day feeding. No roosts to speak of tonight. We'll see what happens if we get rain tomorrow.

October 10
The monarchs came sailing into town today. The goldenrod was covered and anytime you looked in the air you'd see them at all levels; up high, in the dune and circling over head. I stood on a dune cross over and had dragonflies and monarchs gliding past me for hours !!! Many hawks in the air too. It was a very magical day. A friend of ours was up in Stone Harbor and said it was full up there til about 11 am - maybe we welcomed some of those in Cape May.
Many monarchs were still nectaring at 5:30 pm and I'm thinking they were going to hang out on the goldenrod til morning. We'll see tomorrow as daylight arrives!

October 9
The monarchs were making there way down the dunes feasting on the goldenrod today and some were seen in gardens, but it was at a slower pace than any of the last week.

October 8
Here is an update for Friday and today:

Quite a few monarchs crossed the Bay again this morning, Friday Oct. 7th. The ones that hung around were found feeding like crazy in gardens around town. We had a minor influx of monarchs today but no roosting for the night.

Saturday, Oct. 8th the monarchs were scattered here and there feeding in gardens which is always enjoyable but there was not a spectacular movement of any into Cape May today. We're still hoping for one more wave of them this fall.

October 6
Today at about 8 am the monarchs on the roosts from last night started crossing the Delaware Bay. There was a gentle wind of N 6 mph. We counted 500 per minute at the start, than 430, and by the end of an hour it was 59 per minute. The wind changed to NW and all day there were monarchs sailing into Cape May. They were feeding til about 6:15 tonight. We had a few small roosts of a few hundred but it was fairly warm and they seemed to want to nectar until dusk. Some small butterfly bushes had 50 monarchs on them at once - it was quite the sight!! The sea watch in Avalon said yesterday that they stopped counting after approximately 5,000 monarchs flew by! The hawk flight was fabulous too with many kettles of mixed species but also 2 kettles of approximately 100 broad-wings. We've also noticed that yellow-rumped warblers have arrived in large numbers! And Still a good diversity of other warblers around the Cape May.

October 5
Cape May Point had many roosts tonight. The biggest being in the 1,000's. It was a spectacular sight with the last bit of sun shining through their silhouetted wings on the pine trees. There were also some smaller roosts in different areas of the neighborhood. It was a warm night and the monarchs were still nectaring well after 6 pm. Today was an easy day to tag - the butterflies were so busy feeding that you could pick them off the bushes by hand. I did notice that during the influx of butterflies yesterday most of them were males. Today mostly females. I also noted that the males fat measure was higher than the females - probably due to them just arriving while the males has all day to feed. More tomorrow......

October 4 late
The monarchs did continue to fly down the dunes in Cape May Point today. Many small roosts of 50, 100, and 300 butterflies were located in the neighborhoods of Cape May Point and in the dunes tonight. There was also a nice size roost of approximately 1000 or more butterflies in Stone Harbor. More reports to come.....

October 4 early
I've attached a photo of some of the roost from the other night. There were no real roosts last night (10/3) but tonight could be fabulous. LOTS of monarch flying down the dunes in Cape May today beginning early this morning til now, and continuing all day I'm sure. They're roosting and basking in bushes and trees in the sun, out of the wind, and nectaring on english ivy that's blooming. They've also been nectaring on Seaside goldenrod in the dunes and zinnia's, lantana, and butterfly bush, new england aster in resident gardens. I will post all this on the sightings report after tonight to see if they are more roosts to report.

October 1
The monarchs started flying into Cape May Saturday day and began forming roosts around 4 pm. The biggest roost found was approximately 3-400 monarchs. Other roost areas had 50 - 100. Sunday (10/2) was a chilly 50 degree day and they stayed on the roosts. Today (10/3/11) they are starting to fly and feed again.

West Cape May, NJ

Latitude: 38.9 Longitude: -74.9

Observed by: Paige
Contact Observer

The observer's e-mail address will not be disclosed.
Contact will be made through a web-based form.