Date: 09/24/2017

Number: 250

I have hundreds of monarchs in the park over the past week.

On Sept 24, I would estimate there were 250 -- 25 plants with 10+ monarchs each-- plus quite a few flying around and on some other smaller plants like aster.

I have been to the park a number of times in the last month. The first time I noticed the increased numbers was Sept 14 when I saw 30+ on one of the plants with white flowers.

When I went back on Sept 16, I observed many more plants with monarchs feeding. I would estimate 25 plants with 10 to 15 butterflies on each including the original plant I had noticed the first day which seems to have larger numbers of butterflies. (it is on a path where you can see all sides, where other plants are mostly on a hill that is observed from a small bridge, so you only see front face)

Prior to the 14th I had only seen one or two monarchs per visit in the previous few weeks - I run to the park a couple times a week. The weather was quite a bit cooler up til then.

September 26: I went back to the park today and it seems most of the butterflies have headed south. (Still lots or varieties of bees in large numbers though)
Today walking around I saw 15 in singles or pairs flying around and only found 2 plants with groups feeding. On the large plant with the white flowers I could only see 7 individuals and on the purple aster that I sent photo of last time there were 9. I went back twice to each spot and got the same numbers both times.

In terms of the peak numbers last week - I recounted the number of plants where they were feeding and there are only 20, not 25 per my estimate yesterday.

I would say the total number of Monarchs was at least 250 during the peak times.

Toronto, ON

Latitude: 43.7 Longitude: -79.4

Observed by: Sian
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