Date: 10/14/2018

Number: 800

I just returned from watching and tagging Monarchs in a church garden in Allen, TX (north of Dallas). First Presbyterian Church in Allen has spent several years installing and maintaining a large labyrinth garden which includes lots of native plants, and today, hundreds (maybe thousands) of Monarchs stopped by to use its nectar resources. I have not seen Monarchs this dense in Allen since 2005. It has been raining really hard for two days, with the sun finally emerging today.
This morning, temps were in the low 60's, but by 2 pm this afternoon, they rose to the mid 70's with light winds.

One concern: I noted that the ones I caught for tagging did not seem very fat. I fear that the bad weather has kept them from feeding for a few days. Some also looked a bit travel-worn.

Interestingly, my next stop (about two miles away) yielded exactly one Monarch. I went from the church garden to another garden designed as a Monarch Waystation. Unfortunately, some compromise substitutions had been made in the original plant list, and the garden looks great but isn't attracting nearly as many butterflies as the garden with the abundance of natives. The gardeners working with the second garden will be adding more natives when they can. I watched one small butterfly land repeatedly on Zinnias with congested centers and give up without nectaring there. I had read that the more open forms have more readily accessible nectar, but this was the first time I have seen a living illustration of that principle.

All-in-all, it was an amazing day to be a Monarch fan in Allen, TX.

I would estimate there were between 500 and 1,000. There was too much movement to really count. Of the 25 that I tagged, I did not see any of them fly by again.

Allen, TX

Latitude: 33.1 Longitude: -96.7

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