Date: 10/07/2013

Number: 25

For night between Oct 7 and 8.

The number I entered is what I actually saw. Total is really much higher.

An hour or so before sunset I saw a few Monarchs already flying near trees that are typical roost sites. But most Monarchs were still on flowers at sunset. One-half hour after sunset none were obvious on flowers, but there was no obvious mass exodus either. I did find some perched in larger Live Oak and Ashe Juniper trees, but not enough to account for all that were feeding. I did not check every tree. I found a couple roosting individually on tall forbs.

Wind had gone calm at sunset and remained so until sunrise when it rose quickly.

So they all "roosted" if I define roosting broadly, as anything that does not involve flying, eating or reproducing, ignoring whether they aggregated.

The image shows a small roost still under a large Live Oak at 8:30 the next morning (Oct. 8). A few seconds after I took this picture they all flew off simultaneously.

Chalk Mountain, TX

Latitude: 32.1 Longitude: -97.9

Observed by:
Contact Observer

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