Date: 10/03/2011

Number: 50

We are getting many reports of large numbers of monarchs in the Davis Mountains region of West Texas.

I just spoke to a rancher that has thousands of them roosting in pecan orchards near Valentine. He said that this is the first time that they have ever seen this many monarchs.

Also, I received a report today of hundreds of monarchs in the Post Park just south of Marathon.

We have also documented dozens of monarchs on our weekly butterfly counts at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center--more than I have ever seen in the 10 years that I've been with the Nature Center.

We also have monarch caterpillars on the broad-leaf milkweed that came up in the grasslands that burned in April.

Lots of monarchs have been seen at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center (4.5 miles south of Fort Davis, TX). But these seem to be coming in to nectar at the wildflowers (primarily Asteraceae of many species) growing in our grassland (Photo of nectaring monarchs) and at the native plants growing in our botanical garden. I also noticed last week that several of the broad leaf milkweeds (Asclepias latifolia) have monarch larvae on them. We have a small stock tank near where the wildflowers are growing that captured a little water during a heavy rain several weeks ago.

Roost at Post Park
The two images of roosting monarchs was taken at the Post Park about 5 miles south of Marathon, TX. The park has a spring and pond which is surrounded by large pecan trees. I received a report earlier in the day from a birder that had gone to the park and was annoyed because there were so many butterflies that he couldn't see the birds! After hearing that, I made a point of making the trip to the park that evening.

Fort Davis, TX

Latitude: 30.7 Longitude: -103.9

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