Date: 09/24/2017

Number: 100

Monarchs and Painted Ladies; hundreds in the area.

It's hard to say ratio because I was so enthralled I just was not thinking in those terms. Maybe 1:2 or 2:3 monarchs to Painted Ladies.
As for how many, the area is a nature preserve, Sterling Nature Center, on the McIntyre Bluffs along Lake Ontario. The last half-mile of road is rife with goldenrod and there were little flitters moving about all along the way.
At the end of the road, there is an open field of several acres adjacent to the bluffs - filled with milkweed, goldenrod, and asters - and there were just too many of the little buggers to count. Estimate hundreds, but not thousands.
The monarch and Painted Ladies were both nectaring.
I was at Sterling on September 2 and there were a few monarchs near the heron sanctuary but none at the bluffs like today (although that day there were squadrons of hovering dragonflies).

Winds across Lake Ontario into the Sterling/Fair Haven region are generally from the NW/WNW, and average wind speed is 11-15mph. BUT, we've had an unusual stretch of very warm, calm weather for about two weeks now. Temperatures are 10-15 degrees above normal and winds have been calm. The two days I was at Sterling there was little to no wind at all.

For what it's worth, I have seen the monarchs concentrate is this same spot before. It was the first week of September 2012 or maybe 2013. There were thousands resting in an Aspen tree - a unique and very special memory.

Sterling, NY

Latitude: 43.4 Longitude: -76.7

Observed by: Janet
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