Date: 10/14/2011

Number: 1000

They took their sweet time getting here: After the major push of Monarchs apparently went through W Texas and the western Hill Country, only today did I finally see substantial numbers of Monarchs moving and nectaring in the I-35/Balcones Escarpment corridor.

I spent a long day birding in western Bell County and adjacent parts of Burnet and Lampasas Cos. This morning at Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir west of Belton, many Monarchs got up and started moving about 10 a.m. Many of these Monarchs undoubtedly came into the area on the NE winds the previous day but they did not make it far as Austin as of yesterday evening. (I was on my roof watching in the late afternoon and saw only 3 or 4.)

Today's numbers were gratifying but not massive. I probably saw 1000 Monarchs today in an 11-hour field day. The early morning was calm, but by about 10 a.m., winds at Stillhouse Hollow Lake picked up strong out of the SE for a time. Monarchs were struggling to move SW in those headwinds or crosswinds. After mid-morning, just about anywhere I was in the Belton-Temple-Stillhouse Hollow area, I would see 2 to 10 passing per minute at any location. Any scan of the sky with binoculars would detect 10 to 20 in the air. By mid-afternoon, winds were actually calming a bit and most Monarchs in the air were powering S or SW with little difficulty.

Nectar resources are limited in the region. There was a smattering of Liatris blooming in upland areas of western Bell and Lampasas County but I did not see Monarchs visiting that. The major resources were primarily only in the immediate floodplain of the Lampasas River and the margins of Stillhouse Hollow Lake. These included patches of Marsh Fleabane ((Pluchea purpurascens) which have grown on the exposed mudflats and the male False Willows (Depression Weed; Baccharis
neglecta) which are patchy but fairly numerous along the lake margins and river banks.

By late afternoon, numbers of Monarchs were gathering to roost in willow groves along the Lampasas River and also in the big oak groves in Lampasas (City) at Hancock Park.

Courtesy of TX-BUTTERFLY

Lampasas, TX

Latitude: 31.1 Longitude: -98.2

Observed by:
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