Date: 10/06/2018
Number: 10000
A major migration event this afternoon over the Tulsa metropolitan area in NE Oklahoma. Thousands and thousands of Monarchs filled the skies for a couple of hours before and after a front came through. When the reports started being posted on our local FB group, it was storming and pouring at my house. I made the decision to see if I could get away from the storm and catch the migration. It’s been hard hearing reports all around, including one report within 5 miles of my house, and not seeing anything!
I got in the car and drove west. Within a few miles, I was out of the heavy downpour and the rain was falling lightly. I started seeing Monarchs in front of me. I pulled off the road and watched them. I ended up driving down to Bixby which is a couple of miles south of where I was seeing the Monarchs, and ended up on a dead-end street. The Monarchs were swirling above me and flying southwest. There were hundreds. I would calculate at least a thousand per minute. They were flying overhead, they were descending and swirling, and they were everywhere! I stood there and watched them for 20 minutes with no breaks, just continuous monarchs coming overhead, some coming all the way down to the ground, and others as high as the eye could see. It was truly amazing.
I estimate that there were more than 10,000 per hour crossing my location. There were Monarchs migrating across the entire metropolitan area of Tulsa, probably a 30 mile swath, and I saw a tiny fraction of them. We have estimated hundreds of thousands flew over the area, possibly millions. I haven't seen anything like this since the 90s when we had the big migrations.
Here is a photo taken by Kelly Bostian, Outdoor Editor of the Tulsa World. It is taken from a video he made. He gives permission for you to use. He took this 2 miles north of where I was standing.
Bixby, OK
Latitude: 35.9 Longitude: -95.9
Observed by: Sandra
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