Date: 09/09/2012

Number: 172

Another sunny day and temperatures in the 50s provided a nice setting for monarch butterflies at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in the morning. During 2 1/2 hours of observations, 172 monarchs were counted flying across the prairie and nectaring primarily on sunflowers. As a means of comparison, 104 monarchs were seen at Neal Smith on this day in 2011 and 1744 were observed during a very heavy migration in the fall of 2010. The drought this year dried up some areas of a favorite monarch stopping point--the tickseed sunflowers.

Prairie City, IA

Latitude: 41.6 Longitude: -93.3

Observed by: Robert
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