Date: 09/16/2020

Number: 800

Another visitor watching the roosts estimated 1,000 coming in the grove of trees from the surrounding meadows/prairie. We watched from 5:55 p.m. until 7:10 p.m.

I am unable to confirm the date the roost first formed. Three fellow Masters Gardeners and Master Naturalists and I learned of the roost last year from our county coordinator, Nancy K. We were excited to observe it last year, but this year the numbers were "epic" in the words of fellow observers. Although I was unable to join them on Tuesday night when between 2,000 and 3,000 were observed, I went the following night. The numbers were down slightly, but still the monarch roost was a magical sight.

My husband and I arrived at our estimate by the following:
We traversed the entire grove, marveling at the monarchs.
We chose one tree, and together we attempted to count the monarchs in each cluster and the number of clusters in that tree.
Again, we traversed the entire grove, tree by tree and did the same thing.
When we finished, we compared notes with some other observers. Their estimate was 1,000.

Although the natural area boasts a list of more than 150 plants, these are the ones we observed adjacent to the grove area and driving by some of the natural area on our way to the roost:
Boneset
Aster
Black-Eyed Susan
Clover
Goldenrod
Joe Pye Weed
Queen Anne's Lace
Sunflower

The grove appears to provide good shelter from the wind, at least on my observation dates this year and last. As an aside, it seemed that the monarchs were congregating more on the northeast side of the trees.

Attached photo courtesy of Sally S.

Morris, IL

Latitude: 41.4 Longitude: -88.3

Observed by: Jo
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