Date: 09/19/2012

Number: 100000

Millions of Monarchs migrating along the south shore beaches of Long Island, New York.

My Wife Donna and I were out at my aunt's house on the ocean in Westhampton Beach for several days. On Wednesday morning, the 19th, There were small groups from three to ten at a time. By noon time there were larger groups, and it was fairly constant. About 2PM, we went for a walk down the beach road, and the numbers were noticeably increasing. There were literally hundreds of Monarchs at a time heading west through the beach and dunes. There were large swarms at times, and it reminded us of the movie "The Birds". It was quite an impressive sight. I had heard about this happening in the past from my Aunt, We were amazed!! About five thirty or so, we were heading back and noticed that the Monarchs were settling down for the night on the trees. The trees were covered with groups from three to twenty at a time. A very unusual sight.

I would conclude the numbers were in the hundreds of thousands, maybe not a million. I'm pretty good at math and estimating, but this is a tough estimation. On our walk back later in the day, the mile long hike had thousands of the Monarchs settling in the trees everywhere for the nights rest. Possibly 50,000 to 100,000. Best estimations that I can give.

Westhampton Beach, NY

Latitude: 40.8 Longitude: -72.6

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