Date: 08/26/2012

Number: 5

Seventy km (43 miles) west of Coburg, at the Lynde Shores Conservation area in Whitby, and at Darlington Provincial Park 53 km (33 miles) west of Coburg on Lake Ontario, my wife (Sheila) and I spent over two hours looking for Monarchs this afternoon. We saw a total of 5 and were unable to get close enough to any of them to net them. At Lynde Shores the goldenrod is yet to come in to full bloom. There is red clover along the pathways. The individuals we did see were not focused on nectaring and were easily disturbed. The one that sat the longest, perched on a steel fence post for about 15 seconds.
Monarchs did not arrive in any numbers at Lynde Shores last year until 9 September and we were still able to tag over 900. One which was tagged on Sept 22 was recovered in El Rosario in February this year.

Since our experience is so different from Don’s who is tagging further east, perhaps this is an indication that the migration is moving west along the shore of Lake Ontario, and we will see a wave here in a few days (he said hopefully).

Courtesy of Monarch Watch

Whitby, ON

Latitude: 43.9 Longitude: -78.9

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