Date: 09/22/2019

Number: 500

100’s of monarchs roosting in my tree line this evening around 6:50pm

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

I don’t know the first date the roost formed - they caught my eye from inside my home yesterday. I can confirm they were there on the evening of September 22nd at 6:45pm

The estimate was based on a few small clumps of ~30 butterflies each. These were the smallest groups and there were at least 10 groups of that size. Additionally there were 4 very large groups that had at least 50 or more butterflies in them.

We have corn fields to our south. On the property I grow strawberries, raspberries coneflowers, campanula, dianthus all have open flowers now. There are also wildflowers, thistles and clover around. I’ve also observed milkweed in the ditches, I’m not sure if it was in bloom.

Weather.com reports 53 degrees Fahrenheit , I don’t believe it was that cool though.

I don’t recall wind direction. They would be shielded if there was wind. They were in trees that were surrounded by others trees to the north and west, my house was blocking any wind from the east.

Somers, IA

Latitude: 42.4 Longitude: -94.4

Observed by: Jennifer
Contact Observer

The observer's e-mail address will not be disclosed.
Contact will be made through a web-based form.