Date: 10/06/2015

Number: 1000

Noticed lots of butterflies out east window for past several days. Last evening (Oct. 6), went out and tree was covered in Monarchs, too many to count.

This morning, not as many that I could see. Did put out some sugar water for them (researched recipe and technique) but have not observed any activity at the three feeding stations I put out. Still chilly here this morning, though. And very windy.

Probably the last 6 or 7 days I noticed monarchs flitting around through my east window, through which a small portion of the tree they favored was visible. Noticed them because there seemed to be more than normal...it is normal to see one or two, but there always seemed to be half a dozen or more cavorting out there. I only noticed that there were lots of them in my tree two nights ago (10/06), when I was leaving to go to town, and noticed my dog had drug a piece of firewood over there (he's a handful). I was in awe. Could not stick around long, as I had an appointment, but I did grab the camera and took a few pictures. There were probably 10 or 12 branches covered in butterflies that night (10/06), so I would roughly guess a couple thousand. The next morning (10/07), there were not as many, maybe 6 branches full. Went out and took more photos, they stuck around most of the day yesterday (10/07), perhaps because we had a brisk wind out of the south. Took my last photos yesterday (10/07) afternoon. This morning (10/08) when I went out, there was only a few branches full, and this afternoon, I only saw one lone butterfly out there.

I don't know all the last week's overnight temps, but I do know it got down to 44 this past weekend. It was a built damp out also, and we have had several mornings of waking up to fog this past week. Same with wind direction...has been quite windy (normal for here). More photos: one and two.

Selden, KS

Latitude: 39.5 Longitude: -100.5

Observed by: Maureen
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