Date: 10/02/2012

Number: 40

My wife and I are vacationing in the White Mountains in upper New Hampshire

We left our home in Central Texas this past weekend after having an almost constant presence of Monarchs around our home since mid-March

As we left we had about 50-60 larvae in our milkweed patch and we were still seeing eggs from a single female who seemed to have an endless supply

It was tough to leave but we'd been planning this trip for quite some time and knew when we headed back next weekend we'd still have Monarchs at home

Well......while we were hiking today (10/02)at about 1pm on the Lincoln Woods Trail along the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River east of Lincoln when we saw many migrating Monarchs (N 44 3.9 ,W 71 35.3)

We were about about a 1/2 mile north of the suspension bridge off Hwy 112 on the west shore when we noticed Monarchs flying down the river which at that point was flowing S/SW

The wind was blowing upstream but they were soaring against the wind at or just below treetop level

They were coming at a rate of about one every 2-3 minutes and we stayed until we saw about a dozen pass by our location

Quite a treat and really brought a smile to our face to see the Monarch journey from a perspective we rarely get to experience

As we ended our hike and stood on the suspension bridge heading to our parked car....yet more Monarchs were passing over the bridge

Most of them at a height that the majority of the fall foliage tourists like us never even knew that they were there....unless you knew to look for them

We headed East into North Woodstock and ate a late lunch on Hwy 3 at the Woodstock Inn and were pleasantly surprised to again see Monarchs everywhere. 2 or 3 of the businesses in that area had beautiful flower gardens around their shops (including the Woodstock Inn) and the nectar needy Monarchs were descending into the area in large numbers

We counted about 30-40 while we ate lunch in the patio area and saw several flying south down the highway as we drove away to the north

The temps are supposed to get colder this weekend but today was mostly sunny early in the day and then became overcast in late afternoon

We're here until Sunday and we'll be watching the skies hoping to spot more southbound Monarchs

Pemigewasset River, NH

Latitude: 44.1 Longitude: -71.6

Observed by: Chuck
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