Date: 10/15/2011

Number: 45

Migration is not done yet, a late wave started coming through after the days of rain last week, tagged a dozen last Wed evening. This afternoon tagged 45 and saw another couple dozen. Goldenrod is spent, Baccharus is by far the chief nectar source with Bidens and aster also used. The wind had them hunkering lower that normal on the Baccharus and in thicker areas out of swing of the net. I had to penetrate the thickets and literally hand caught about 15 timing my grab with the wind bending the boughs down to me. For baccharus that had multiple monarchs this actually helped me get more, since a swing of the net usually scares any remaining monarchs away.

Three times I caught "doubles" in my net, not uncommon while nectaring, but I caught a pair in circling flight which is tougher to do! There were a few tattered Viceroys out there and they joined in the chases too anytime a monarch went by. I still don't understand the advantage of chasing off a passing monarch from your nectar but many do.

My batting average was pretty good today with about 95% catch rate on nectaring monarchs and 40% on in flight. Always get a few bees and flies in the net as bycatch, but a chinese mantid today made me wonder if it was targeting the monarch! No bees or mantids were harmed in the netting of monarchs....in fact I have never killed or even damaged any critter while netting/tagging, the Monarch is one tough bug.

Courtesy of Carolina Leps

Falls Lake, NC

Latitude: 35.9 Longitude: -78.6

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