Date: 09/29/2020

Number: 100

Big north wind yesterday. 25 degrees cooler today. First Monarchs seen since last fall's migration.

The roost first formed on September 28. We had a huge north wind that hit on the 27th and blew for almost 24 hours. It was the first big north wind this part of South Texas had seen this fall. The monarchs apparently rode that big wind into my area since I have not seen one in almost a year. Although the number of monarchs fluctuated, I have not seen one in two days. I suspect the reason for that is that we had another big north wind hit two days ago.

The number 100 was an estimate. I thought it was a very conservative estimate. The actual number could well have been 200 or more. There were small clusters of monarchs all around the yard at my ranch house.

There are no specific nectar sources around the house, but the entire ranch received big rains about the second week of September. It had been quite dry since June prior to those rains. The ranch is in a semi arid area of Texas. Accordingly, everything grows and blooms after a rain like that. The ranch is about 7 mi.² in area, and has had no cattle on it since summer due to the drought.

The monarchs were mostly in Live Oak trees when they first appeared. Since then they have also occupied a Hackberry and a Texas persimmon. The last monarchs to leave seemed to prefer the Texas persimmon.

The monarchs were only slightly shielded from the wind where I observed them. They were spread throughout multiple trees.

Endnote: For nearly 50 years we had access to another ranch 10 miles north east of Sterling city Texas. Almost every fall around the first week in November monarchs would suddenly appear. There were hundreds and hundreds of them clustered in the large trees that grew around a natural spring on that ranch. Water was scarce in the area, and we always assumed it was the spring and big trees that drew them. In some years there were so many monarchs that the scene reminded us of photos of their winter roost in Mexico, although the butterflies typically only stayed for a day or two.

Brackettville, TX

Latitude: 29.3 Longitude: -100.4

Observed by: Chuck
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