Date: 05/02/2017

Number: 1

A friend of mine observed a monarch at Harrisville State Park. Yesterday we had a high of 66 F., and today it is 43 F. with the wind WSW gusting to 25 mph.

Larry has been with me looking for monarchs and he knows the difference between a monarch and Viceroy. He just told me by phone that it was slightly faded , but color was still good, not glassy looking. He also told me he could not get close enough to see if it was a male or female because it was flying about 12 feet above the ground around some White Cedar trees.

The weather for both April and May has been windy, some rain but only one thunderstorm a couple of weeks ago and mostly in the low 30's at night to mid 40's during the day with only 2 days in April 70 & 72 degrees and about 5 days of 60's. High for May so far is 66 F. and a low of 33 F.

Milkweed is up as of April 30 with height at 1 inch on May 01, but no eggs as of today (May 9). Other butterflies since about April 25th have been the Mourning Cloak, Painted Ladies, Tortoise type, Cabbage White, and Red Admiral (about 200 in my yard May 4th). By the way, I myself have yet to see a monarch this year.

This would be the earliest sighting of a monarch since record keeping began in 2010.

Harrisville, MI

Latitude: 44.6 Longitude: -83.3

Observed by: Frank
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