Date: 10/10/2013

Number: 500

October 10, 2013 Monarch Butterflies at Broad View Wildflower Seed Garden, central Iowa. Hundreds of monarchs feeding on Monarda citriodora, common name Lemon Mint. Monarda citriodora is not native to Illinois or Iowa, but is a prairie plant of Missouri, Nebraska, and elsewhere in parts of the south.

It was thrilling to be there at this impressive event first hand.
Monarch event location is central Iowa, 55 miles west of Iowa City and 65 miles east of Des Moines.
The Prairie Map lists exact location of Broad View Garden: http://prairiemap.com/
Broad View Garden is 5 miles NW of Brooklyn and 15 miles east of Grinnell, Iowa.

The CRP field is 20 acres. This entire field had blooming Lemon Mint. I focused on the edge of the field near to the farm pond's Broad View Garden Area. Thus, in saying hundreds, I have little accuracy in surmising the number across the entire field. The greatest concentration appeared in the CRP field near the edge of the pine trees lining the pond. Maybe, five hundred all total across the CRP field. In evening they all flew into the maple and pine trees at the pond. However, they flew in so staggered, again it is difficult to estimate the numbers.

This CRP field was planted May 20th and had been mowed about six times to keep the weeds down and give the prairie plants a chance to become established. Therefore, only when we stopped mowing in late summer did the Lemon Mint get going enough to produce blooms. As a result, the Lemon Mint was in the peak of blooming when Monarchs gathered October 10th. There appeared an increase in Monarchs sited at the CRP in the days leading up to October 10th. I do not know if each day those Monarchs left and new Monarchs arrived, or if Monarchs arrived over several days--staying to feed and building up in large numbers--but, the large group of October 10th had left by October 11th.

The next day, October 11th, I only saw two Monarchs. Yesterday (October 14), I looked over the area and again only saw two Monarchs.

Over this past summer, the Garden with prairie forbs has four to six Monarchs observed every day. The farm has about 110 acres in CRP and most of that is in native plantings, although the forbs are few in most of the fields. However, there is scattered common milkweed here and there on the farm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5dJGku1szk&feature=youtu.be

Grinnell, IA

Latitude: 41.7 Longitude: -92.8

Observed by:
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