Date: 04/09/2017

Number: 4

1 adult came to plum blossoms. The others were visible just before sunset, and appeared to be coming down to find a place for the night. Sightings also coincided with cold frontal boundary. Seems very early!

Of the individuals we saw--one was bright and fresh. The other 3 were farther away and I cannot guarantee that they were bright and fresh, but from some distance the colors appeared bright and the wings were not ragged.

Weather was favorable for movement--the day before, I had commented that I wouldn't be surprised to see Monarchs in the next day. With the low over the High Plains, we had a strong south wind at the surface and aloft for at least 48 hours. Temperatures were very warm--we were in the low 80's both the 8th and the 9th. When we saw the Monarchs, a cold front was literally over our location--the south wind had become calm and then shifted around from the north shortly after our sightings. It had been sunny for much of the day. With the cold front overhead and sunset, it seemed to be a perfect time to see Monarchs coming down to find safe places to roost. A line of thunderstorms was approaching from the west, and the anvil was just starting to overspread our location when the last 3 individuals were seen apparently coming down and looking for roosting places.

I'm a meteorologist and teach atmospheric science--I also specialize in using radar observations, and one thing I do a lot of is apply radar observations to movements of birds and, occasionally, insects. So it's always interesting to me to see how the weather variables and radar observations relate to movement of migrants.

The milkweed is not yet up around here. I have looked at some wild stands lately, and they are not up. I also grow several spp. in a prairie garden (syriaca, speciosa, tuberosa, verticillata, viridis), and none are yet up.

Other butterflies currently flying include Red Admirals (moderate numbers), Polygonia sp. (one of the Commas, large numbers), a few Colias sp., not much else has been noticed. No swallowtails or painted ladies yet.

Lincoln, NE

Latitude: 40.9 Longitude: -96.6

Observed by: Matthew
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