Date: 09/24/2017

Number: 2000

We went kayaking to Charles island and although we didn't find Captain William Kidd's fortune we found an unexpected treasure in another form. We were fortunate enough to experience one of the most spectacular natural phenomena in the world, the fall migration of the monarch.

We are absolutely positively we only saw monarch.

My best guess is around 2,000 although I have no concrete way to make that assessment. Today on one bush alone I counted fourteen butterflies and over a period of five minutes I counted one hundred butterflies while walking slowly. There are inaccessable areas of the island that has golden rod growing all over and I could see the butterflies but couldn’t get close enough to count.

September 25: So the wind has been strong from the north the past week from the after effects of hurricane Jose. The wind died as of two days ago with the wind from the west yesterday at 0-7 knots. Today the wind started WSW and has changed to the current condition of S. I was so intrigued by these creatures and I kayaked out again ( I'm actually on the island now) and got some more amazing pictures to share. They're all still here as of 3:41p.m. And the wind has been less than 5 knots all day. They seem to be congregating on the golden rod on the south east side of the island.

I don't know too much about butterfly's other than what I researched but I was curious to see if they would still be here today after reading your response. They are still nectaring and it seems they are content here. If I have a chance tomorrow I'll come back out to see if they are still here!

Editor's Note: Charles Island is a 14-acre island located roughly 0.5 mile (1 km) off the coast of Milford, Connecticut, in the Long Island Sound.

Milford, CT

Latitude: 41.2 Longitude: -73.1

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