Date: 06/13/2017

Number: 2

Bill G and I were at the Point Lepreau Bird Observatory this
afternoon preparing for some renovations to the building. At about 3:40 PM I
happened to look up from my work and spotted a MONARCH passing the
lighthouse and flying northeast along the Bay of Fundy shoreline. I watched
it fly across the field and up and over the alders at the far end as it
continued on its way. This was the first northbound migrating Monarch I've
ever seen at the Point; we normally only see them migrating south in the
late summer and fall when we're there tagging.

A half-hour later a second MONARCH came in off the water of the Bay from the
direction of Grand Manan (thank you Nick :) ). It reached the field and
then began to wander about, apparently looking for some blooming flowers to
nectar on. It (or another) was still in the area when we left for home an
hour later.

Nick's two reports from the Grand Manan area combined with these two
butterflies at Point Lepreau and reports of two others yesterday in the
Moncton area are very encouraging. Monarchs more typically arrive in the
Maritimes during late June or early July. However recent years have been
anything but typical. Last year very few Monarchs arrived here and those
that did were late, resulting in very low local reproduction levels.

So we appear to be receiving some early Monarchs into southern NB. This
bodes well for some decent reproduction of Monarchs this summer as the
butterflies have an extra 2-3 weeks during which to lay eggs here. This is
wonderful news!

Forwarded by Don Davis

Maces Bay, NB

Latitude: 45.1 Longitude: -66.5

Observed by:
Contact Observer

The observer's e-mail address will not be disclosed.
Contact will be made through a web-based form.