Date: 09/02/2014

Number: 150

As of today (9/7/14), the monarchs have been roosting here for a week (since Monday night, 9/1/14), and flying around and feeding for about 2 weeks total. The first time I saw them roost was Monday Sept 1. For about 1 week prior to that, I saw many monarchs flying around in our yard. I didn't know anything about "roosting" and their migration until seeing them and finding your wonderful website.

Here's a summary:

Monday September 1:
- first roost sighting - between 6:30 and 8 p.m. - 1 cluster on edge of grove = 80

Tuesday September 2:
- lots of activity inside the grove of trees. That's when I noticed they were forming more than one cluster. They had increased to = 125-150. Mostly at edge of grove, maybe some inside.

Wednesday September 3:
- multiple clusters at edge of grove - increased to about = 200.

Thursday September 4:
- the most I have seen - 5 clusters at edge of grove - about = 300+. (If I could visually see 300 there were probably more). It was very warm, humid and windy with wind coming from the south. Was warm all 4 nights.

Friday September 5:
- Sadly no roost sightings. I did see them in the alfalfa field, and saw at least 10 flying near the tops of the trees in the grove but heading to the other side of the grove. I could not find any roosts. It was cold, and wind now coming from the north.

Saturday, September 6
-- They're back! It was warm and the wind was from the south. They were roosting in two separate groves this time.
- 500 roosting

Sunday, September 7
- They were forming roosts in two groves again.
- I'm estimating at least 400.


We are blessed to be a hotspot for monarchs right now. An 18 acre field of fully blooming alfalfa and prairie grasses backs up to our property. The monarchs feed there by day. Hundreds of them right now. It is difficult to estimate how many are in the field right now (9/7/14), I'm guessing more than 400 - but that's what I could reasonably report. They roost in our tree groves at night. A dozen are free flying around our property at any given moment. It was a labor of love to go out into the field this morning to observe them. The flowers are taller than my knee high boots, and the honey bees and bumble bees love the field too. Didn't need one of those down my boot.

Here is a brief background of our property: we live on 3 acres. I have a large organic vegetable garden, and several blooming perennial gardens. We try to use mostly natural and organic yard products. Our backyard faces south and backs up to an 18 acre field of mostly alfalfa. It is cut and baled twice per summer/fall by a local farmer who leases it. Right now it is in full bloom with purple alfalfa flowers. The butterflies can be seen there during the day. The west side of our backyard has a perfect little grove of trees - mostly volunteer elm and ash. After reading your site, sounds like a perfect place for them to roost. My husband and I do a little "walkabout" on our property with our dog most nights during sunset. I observed the monarchs each night this week. They roosted on the edge facing our yard.

minnetrista, MN

Latitude: 44.9 Longitude: -93.7

Observed by: nancy
Contact Observer

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