Date: 10/31/2015

Number: 200

I saw hundreds on Monarchs in Austin. Surprising! I saw more monarchs in 30 minutes than I’ve seen all year. Bright, fresh, long winged migrating monarchs of both sexes. We’ve had a couple rainy days with strong winds out of the south, so I should not be surprised to see Monarchs that had hunkered down. They were sunning themselves and nectaring on evergreen sumac blooms which were plentiful and covered with numerous other insects. (sunny temp 65df) The preserve manager said they had been there the day before as well.

Here’s the funny thing, I went a quarter mile away to another nature preserve with similar vegetation, and there were none. I saw none on the rest of the day even though I was outside observant, and I drove up and down all over Austin including over several really tall overpasses where I sometimes get up into migrating monarchs.

So my question: I know many butterflies “hill top” as a means of coming together and facilitating meeting mates. The preserve where I saw the monarchs is among the tallest in a hilly area. Locally known as lone tree hill. Are monarchs known to hill top? It does not really make sense? Years ago, I saw roosts in the Kerrville area the morning after a strong cold front (similar conditions) which were down in a valley along a creek. That location to emerge after hunkering down makes a lot more sense. The mystery continues.

Courtesy of Monarch Watch

Editor’s note: Based on the comment of “hundreds” we are estimating 200 monarchs.

Austin, TX

Latitude: 30.2 Longitude: -97.7

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