Date: 09/18/2012

Number: 1000

I watched hundreds of Monarch Butterflies feeding on mostly Goldenrod in some fields near the Gay Head Cliffs on Martha's Vineyard Island late in the afternoon on Sept. 18th. I then found the trees they were roosting on and watched them gather onto some privet trees. I'd say there were somewhere around 1000 butterflies. The trees were covered. I returned the next morning (Sept. 19th) to watch them all fly off the trees as they warmed up. By evening it seemed most of them had moved on.

I am 86 and a retired teacher of Junior High students. I have lived on Martha's Vineyard for 65 years and have only witnessed this large a gathering of Monarchs once before - in 1973. I then borrowed an 8mm camera from my school and filmed hundreds, maybe thousands, of Monarchs coming in to roost for the night - and again, leaving early the next morning. Our local Audubon camp has a copy of that film. When my younger daughter was twelve, we collected the caterpillars (sometimes even an egg) and in her bedroom watched them transform from egg to caterpillar to beautiful chrsylis to butterfly - a high point in my life.

Aquinnah, MA

Latitude: 41.3 Longitude: -70.8

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