Date: 04/04/2017

Number: 1200

At 6:32PM on Tuesday (4 April) I received the following message from a landowner I know near Bixby in northeastern Oklahoma.

“Looking at hundreds of monarchs right now on the pine trees down by our gate. I assume they blew in with the storms. It's amazing!!”

My response was “Are you just trying to get me to call you? Or, are you seeing something that should be documented six ways from Sunday? If real, that is a first. REALLY!!!!”

You could tell I was excited.

I then went on to say that, if there were indeed hundreds of monarchs on the property at this time of year, it was remarkable, even extraordinary and a sight that may never have been reported.

I subsequently contacted Elizabeth Howard. Elizabeth, as most of you know, manages Journey North which has been recording first sightings of monarchs returning from Mexico since 1997. My question to Elizabeth was “In all the records of first sightings over the last decade and more, have you ever received a report of spring clustering that involves hundreds, perhaps thousands of monarchs?” Elizabeth answered “No we haven't had clustering reports before other than this one of 50 in Tamaulipas:
https://www.learner.org/jnorth/sightings/query_result.html?record_id=1487466914”

I was pretty sure Elizabeth’s answer would be no, at least not in the United States. So, over and over again, I pressed my colleague to get pictures, estimate numbers and to document the event as thoroughly as possible. Credibility is important. I’ve been there. I saw a mountain lion once just a mile from my house, but the ground was frozen and there were no tracks or other evidence. So, to this day, I only mention the event when I’m with those who believe in and want to hear mountain lion stories.

Back in Oklahoma it was a dark and windy night (April 4) but monarchs kept coming into the pine trees and did so until last light. The winds were from the south and most of the clusters formed on the north side of the pine trees. The clusters were small and scattered. Some clusters formed in isolated pines but no clusters were found on the neighboring oaks or other tree species.

The next morning (April 5) it was cool and overcast and the monarchs weren’t moving. My colleague tried to take pictures of the clustered monarchs. It was difficult since the clusters were high in the trees and the monarchs blended in with the pine cones and were nestled deeply within the pine needles. The best picture is below. If you look closely, you can see 8 monarchs.

Although most of the monarchs were in a row of pines, others were found in pine trees scattered over 2-3 acres. The first estimate on Wednesday morning (April 5) suggested that there were roughly 500-1000 monarchs in the trees. Later, after a more thorough search over a slightly larger area, the estimate grew to 1200 to perhaps as many as 2000. (I should say at this point that the latter estimate was made by someone who routinely works with large numbers of butterflies).

The weather was pretty iffy at this location throughout the day on Wednesday (April 5). There were strong winds from the north and the temperature grudgingly inched up to 60F with a few intervals of sunshine. In spite of the winds and low temperatures, some monarchs were seen puddling and others seemed to be leaving the area. Yet, it looked as if some would remain for another night and that’s what happened. This morning (6 April) roughly 150 monarchs remained in the area.

This event raises lots of questions. Data from first sightings and first eggs as reported to Journey North would seem to suggest that monarchs fan out and become highly dispersed as they move into the United States from Mexico. There is no literature, and there are no observations, that I’m aware of that would suggest 2000 monarchs would converge on a small parcel of land as far north as northeastern Oklahoma to form overnight clusters.

This event followed a series of storms that moved into Oklahoma from Texas. Winds associated with these storms were variable with some from the WSW raising the possibility that the weather patterns and the habit of monarchs to ride tail or quartering winds caused them to converge and to seek refuge at a site that offered protection from the winds. We will try to dig into the weather data to see if we can learn more about the conditions preceding and during this event.

During fall migration, if you follow the flight of single monarchs that are looking for a roost site at the end of the day, one after another can be seen headed in the same direction, and along what appears to be the same path, usually toward the highest feature on the horizon. That behavior often takes them to trees at the tops of hills. The site of these observation was also on a hilltop. Fall or spring, clustering high in trees in refuge sites on hills has the effect of protecting monarchs from freezing temperatures. It’s possible that this phenomenon occurs from time to time but goes unobserved because few of us would think of looking for spring clusters on hilltops.

Two other points are worthy of mention. While many of the monarchs appeared to be in good condition, others were quite worn and tattered. There was no way to determine the sex ratio but the clusters were composed of both males and females.

As I was finishing this text, I received an email from my colleague written at 6:54 (April 7) saying that 10 monarchs are in the process of forming a cluster on one of the pines. Spring monarchs in the trees three nights in a row. That’s amazing. It’s totally out of my experience.

Bixby, OK

Latitude: 35.9 Longitude: -95.9

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