Date: 10/21/2018

Number: 323

My daughter and I were crossing the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway on 10/21/18 at 12:30pm - a distance approximately 24 miles long. There were many monarchs in migration - we counted 323 on our trip (a time span of about 22 minutes).

It was an exciting afternoon - most of the butterflies we spotted were about 1 to 5 1/2 meters over the causeway, often almost hitting the car. Others were flying over the lake on either side, but it seemed like most were over the bridge. (That may have also been where it was easiest to see them.) Some were flying in circling pairs or small ‘flocks’ of 5 or 6. I wonder if the flow of traffic affects the air currents and the monarchs’ flight pattern because they seemed to have a preference for the south bound bridge. This afternoon (10/30/18)I only counted 32 on the same trip, but from 5:20-5:45pm and heading on the northbound bridge. There seemed to be more near the southbound bridge. Apparently there were a lot on Saturday as per reports of friends of mine who crossed the bridge in the morning.

Mandeville, LA

Latitude: 30.3 Longitude: -90.1

Observed by: Donata
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