Date: 09/20/2015

Number: 200

There were actually three roosts. One fairly large one, and a couple of smaller ones. Formed several roosts in oak trees at edge of hilly, woodlands at dusk. Too many to count. Our home backs to the woods where we sites them. Quite a thrill!

We saw some butterfly activity in the afternoon, but there was a great deal of activity about 6:30 p.m on Sept. 20th. Sunset was 7:00 yesterday (9/20) with overnight temps in the mid-50's.

We live at the top of a hill. Our main level is eye level with the tops of oaks, and that’s why we were able to see the roosts so well.
We noticed that they were following the sun – that is, the sun was still shining on the tops of the trees only.

This morning (9/21) I took a photo of the largest roost while they were still inactive. I’ll send that photo. I began to see some activity in the roost around 6:30 a.m., and I was expecting a mass exodus of the roost similar to the formation – but when I left for work about 9:10 a.m. some of the Monarchs were still in the roost.

Eureka, MO

Latitude: 38.5 Longitude: -90.6

Observed by: Pat
Contact Observer

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