Date: 10/12/2012

Number: 1000

Greetings from the beautiful Eastern Shore of Virginia! This afternoon I visited Assateague Island and headed to the beach! I had spoken with a Park Ranger by phone and found out that the monarchs had finally begun arriving the middle of this past week. The north wind finally kicked in, the rains stopped, and the cool temps finally rose! On earlier visits these past 2-3 weeks, there had been no real peak sightings, because of low temps, no north wind, plus the goldenrod had not fully bloomed yet! Today was glorious, however! As I headed to the southern end of the beach area, the monarchs were everywhere nectaring on the huge area of full blooming goldenrod. There are several acres of the goldenrod covering small dunes and flat places in this wide open area! There were clusters of butterflies everywhere I looked...all flitting around or gathered on the plants holding on tight in the breeze and feasting in the beautiful sunshine! What a sight! No way to really tell an actual number as I couldn't even see how far down the beach this went...it was the first time for me in this spot! I just walked, watched and took pictures for about 2 hours. The area is truly an "ocean" of goldenrod...and therefore, an "ocean of monarchs"! I did my "happy dance" all the way back to the car! Oh! And as a bonus, I even saw a pair mating! Guess priorities vary, even for monarchs!

Assateague Island, VA

Latitude: 38 Longitude: -75.3

Observed by: Ann
Contact Observer

The observer's e-mail address will not be disclosed.
Contact will be made through a web-based form.