Date: 09/21/2017

Number: 400

After tagging 15-20 Monarchs a day for the last 3 weeks, today I found 400 roosting on the north side of our grove. There is a strong South wind so the tagged butterflies from yesterday were among the newly arrived ones.

I was out in the trees shortly after 12:00 noon. It was already quite warm ,80+, and humid, the wind was from the south. I had been checking the trees (mostly walnut trees, a couple of choke cherry trees with viburnum, dogwood other shrubs mixed in, because I was tagging Monarchs for the past 3 weeks. I had been finding 20-30 Monarchs among the trees for the past few days. Most of them were hanging around as evidenced by the tags that I could see as I checked the trees in the morning.There are spent black eyed susan flowers, and asters but the Monarchs seldom leave the roost when they appear in large numbers. There are soybean and corn fields nearby. It had been in the mid-sixties overnight and the wind had been quite brisk all the day before--thus I was surprised that the clusters of Monarchs had arrived. When I am tagging (or observing like yesterday) I notice where the butterflies gather. I find wind tunnels produced by buildings and obstructions to the south are usually devoid of butterflies. There will be some clusters on the west side of the trees when the shelter is just right. There is a small glade facing the east where they will also gather whether the wind is from the north or the south. We had a long spell with west winds in the past 2 weeks and there were very few Monarchs. I usually expect them to arrive on winds from the North so the new arrivals seems unusual. I haven't checked yet this morning to learn whether there are still clusters. It is over 70 degrees with less of a breeze this morning. I couldn't get any good pictures. They took flight as soon as I appeared. The magic moments just can't be captured.
I was out in the trees shortly after 12:00 noon. It was already quite warm ,80+, and humid, the wind was from the south. I had been checking the trees (mostly walnut trees, a couple of choke cherry trees with viburnum, dogwood other shrubs mixed in, because I was tagging Monarchs for the past 3 weeks. I had been finding 20-30 Monarchs among the trees for the past few days. Most of them were hanging around as evidenced by the tags that I could see as I checked the trees in the morning.There are spent black eyed susan flowers, and asters but the Monarchs seldom leave the roost when they appear in large numbers. There are soybean and corn fields nearby. It had been in the mid-sixties overnight and the wind had been quite brisk all the day before--thus I was surprised that the clusters of Monarchs had arrived. When I am tagging (or observing like yesterday) I notice where the butterflies gather. I find wind tunnels produced by buildings and obstructions to the south are usually devoid of butterflies. There will be some clusters on the west side of the trees when the shelter is just right. There is a small glade facing the east where they will also gather whether the wind is from the north or the south. We had a long spell with west winds in the past 2 weeks and there were very few Monarchs. I usually expect them to arrive on winds from the North so the new arrivals seems unusual. I haven't checked yet this morning to learn whether there are still clusters. It is over 70 degrees with less of a breeze this morning (9/22). I couldn't get any good pictures. They took flight as soon as I appeared. The magic moments just can't be captured.

September 24: My large clusters of Monarchs is still here. A friend 4 miles to the west reports that his wildflower area is covered with them. The farmers were harvesting soybeans this morning so I couldn't get back to the field to identify the flowers. I have noticed a high number of Monarchs in the dewy grass in the morning and even a few in mid-day to afternoon.

Dysart, IA

Latitude: 42.2 Longitude: -92.3

Observed by: Cathy
Contact Observer

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