Date: 09/18/2019

Number: 500

In the thicket behind our house, I saw hundreds. It wasn't thick like some pictures I've seen, but it was easily in the hundreds.
The picture is dark, but if you zoom in, you can see about 10 monarchs. Prettiest thing ever!

Editor's note: contacted observer for more details on this sighting

I don't know when the roost first formed. It's on a part of our property that I don't frequent.

I was out mowing ... about 11:30 am ... I rounded the corner behind our neighbor's fence and started mowing along the treeline. Suddenly, a swarm of monarchs flew up. I steered away from the thicket immediately and shut off the mower. I called for my daughter - she ran out to me, thinking I was hurt, but when she saw the butterflies, she gasped.

I visited the site (about 50 yards behind our house) several times over the next few hours. Through the day, the numbers dwindled as those trees received more sunlight. By the time my husband got home at about 4:30 pm, almost all of them were gone. He was sad he hadn't seen it.

Standing in one place, looking at the most narrow portion of the thicket (about 20' x 30'), I counted well over 100. That was just counting the ones I could actually see clearly. There were more on the other side of the thicket, but I wasn't sure which were monarchs and which were dead leaves on limbs that had fallen. The thicket between the fields runs for probably two football lengths, and I saw fluttering the whole way down. I think 500 was a very conservative estimate.

Nectar sources nearby? The field to the west of the thicket is full of clover and alfalfa. The field to the east is fallow this year, but it's full of wild asters, clover, and a few other wildflowers. There is a walnut grove also just to the left of the thicket that is full of goldenrod. There are many houses around that have lots of zinnias and other flowers blooming.

Overnight temps probably around 67F. Winds SSW. We live in a county with over 2000 people and 511 windmills. It is ALWAYS windy here. The monarchs were somewhat shielded from the wind. The thicket runs north/south. The butterflies didn't start clustering until about 10-15 feet into the thicket.

More pictures/video posted on FB: https://www.facebook.com/1376747570/posts/10220683857471127?sfns=mo

Fowler, IN

Latitude: 40.6 Longitude: -87.3

Observed by: Anni
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