Date: 10/02/2011

Number: 1000

There were thousands of Monarchs in the formerly flooded lake bed, fields, and woodlands north of White River Lake (Crosby County) on Sunday (10/2).  They were nectaring, so far as I could tell, on the flourishing crop of milkweed springing from formerly flooded open areas or on the now abundant sunflowers coating every other surface of the lake and river beds.  The sunflowers never achieved their normal height but, even stuck at the three foot high stage, are blooming nicely.  When not nectaring, the Monarchs were sheeting on both willows and cottonwoods.  I tallied close to 2000 along a winding path roughly six miles long and feet wide.  It was the best day of butterflying I have had at the lake so far this year (five eight-hour visits so far) with 33 species of butterflies seen - including a startling number of very fresh Eastern Tailed Blues; a species I see very rarely in my region.  Then again, it was the first visit this year where there were enough flowers going to set off my allergies:)

As regards the condition of the Monarchs: they looked pretty darn close to mint condition to me and did not strike me as particularly thin-bodied nor lethargic.  It may be a rare phenomenon in this drought-stricken year but this one spot seems to be fairly high quality for visiting and resident butterflies.

Courtesy of TX-BUTTERFLY

White River Lake, TX

Latitude: 33.5 Longitude: -101.1

Observed by:
Contact Observer

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