Date: 09/15/2011

Number: 85

Observed around 8:00-10:00 am My husband was running a half-marathon and it almost felt like there were as many monarchs as there were runners! It was amazing! Specifically we were at Misquamicut Beach in Westerly RI.

We drove down the day before, 9/15 to pick up his race packet. This was in the afternoon. We first noticed them when we drove to Misquamicut Beach - and our first sighting was around 2:30 pm that day. We usually saw them in small groups. Some were even flying near the coastline! Most however were back by the dunes, by the street, or across the street in the marsh area. We stopped counting when we saw 30 or so, and continued to see them in great numbers until we left that evening around 5:30. If I were to guess we saw 50-80 per hour.

My report (9/16) was my count during the morning (as I a lot of time on my hands between the start and finish of the race). I didn't notice as many monarchs between 11am and 2pm. Sometime between 2 and 3 pm the frequency increased again, equal to or slightly less than the afternoon prior.
What an amazing experience and what an honor to see this migration! I've already started to look into planting next year to provide plants to help these guys fuel up for their journey. I've never seen a monarch in the wild before this weekend. Not sure if I can do the milkweed, but dahlias and zinnias for certain.

Westerly, RI

Latitude: 41.4 Longitude: -71.8

Observed by: Shannon
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