Date: 09/13/2015

Number: 6

These are some notes I made yesterday, Sunday, Sept. 13.

The most interesting movement of the day though was Monarchs.
I have not seen one in months, as usual in summer here. There
are no Monarchs in Utopia in the summer. Twelve years of
observation have convinced me all Monarchs in Utopia are
migrants. A northbound wave in early spring and in late
spring, their hatches. Then a southbound wave in fall. Or
better, a series of waves, since some are clearly defined
with fronts before and after the main peak flight days.

At 29.5-6 deg. North we had the first weak front of fall
Thursday (10th), sweeping down out of the Great Plains,
lots of areas got some rain (we didn't), but the heat
broke and the season changed. Then two days after the weak
front, Saturday (12th) a second stronger re-enforcing front
arrived with 10-15 mph north to northeasterlies for much of
the day. Temps actually dropped and gave us dry N-NE flow.

Then Sunday Sept. 13, the first day after the real substantial
(double) front hit, and after very unsettled four days of
frontal passages, there are Monarchs. The first one was
resting on Frostweed in the river riparian habitat corridor,
two out of focus but identifiable photos were obtained. Then
a very dull worn one crossed the yard early afternoon, followed
by a bright one in good condition an hour later. Three between
11 and 4 p.m. There have been none in months.

We (Kathy & I) went for a peak-heat swim from 4:30 to 5:30.
Two additional Monarchs passed overhead making great time on
the freeway, flying downriver about 25' over it. Shootin'
the tube in the cleared flight path between the rows of huge
cypresses on either side of the Sabinal River which meet over
the river about 30+' up. Shaded, obstacle-free, wind-sheltered,
great flight path choice if one wants to make time unimpeded.
I have only seen migrant Monarchs shoot the cypress tube
southbound at full speed ahead. They know they will hit
frostweed patches and have sugary pecan leaves for roosting if
they stick to the river. So a total of FIVE Monarchs were seen
well today. Plus the big floppy orange butterfly in the corral
by those pecans after 6:30 p.m. that was surely a sixth individual.

After months without one, this is the first wave of what are
migrant Monarchs on the first real (double) front of fall,
in mid-September, as has happened before. Roughly a month
ahead of the big peak main wave(s) of 'official' Monarch
migration. These poor harbingers are seemingly designated as
lowly *pre-migrant* migrants, which are migrants nevertheless.
Due to the frontal passage their arrival this year was very
well-demarcated by extended prior absence. Locally in a day,
they went from zero-for-months to 6-in-a-day, at one small
observation spot along the Sabinal River below Utopia.
Fascinating.

Courtesy of TX-BUTTERFLY

Utopia, TX

Latitude: 29.6 Longitude: -99.6

Observed by:
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