Date: 09/29/2017

Number: 200

HOORAY! The Monarchs have arrived on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Western North Carolina! We had been surveying the parkway since September 23,2017 with 2 spotted on the 24th and 2 on the 25th. Last year thousands of Monarchs showed up on Sept 25th and stayed several days at Caney Fork. This year it has been unseasonably warm with little rain. Today we started seeing Monarchs along the parkway after passing the Pisgah Inn. By the time we reached Pounding Mill Overlook mile marker 413 at 3pm we counted 100+ Monarchs in 1 hr and tagged 20. When it started to cloud up and drizzle we drove to Caney Fork mile marker 428 where we only saw one Monarch. On our way back down the mountain we stopped at Cherry Cove mile marker 415 since the rain had let up. We counted 88 Monarchs in 20 minutes flying over head but they were too high to tag.
The temperature started at 66F at 3pm and dropped to 59 by 530pm. The winds were 6mph from the north.

Canton, NC

Latitude: 35.3 Longitude: -82.8

Observed by: Theresa
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