Date: 09/07/2022

Number: 500

500-600 monarchs were seen the evening before but most had left by 8:00 am today when I checked the area.

[Additional information contributed by observer, added by Journey North, 09/09/2022]:

Late afternoon. . . about one hundred arrived and many more kept arriving. Later in the evening [a count of 570 was reported on site.] From [fellow observer's] post: "Very quickly materializing this evening at Wendy Park: 570 Monarchs roosting in scattered clumps on the south side of the main woodlot. Rain finally let up around 6 pm and numbers ballooned quickly."

I recall the winds were light and from the north-east. The weather had recently cleared from a couple days of rain.

I understand they roosted on Staghorn Sumac, Eastern Cottonwood, and bare vines, either in a woodlot or the south side of trees, shielded from wind.

On Wednesday morning I found the majority of the remaining Monarchs east of the woodlot, on the south side of trees along the Lake Erie coast, all the way to the Cuyahoga River.

In regard to nectar sources, I have photos but was unfamiliar with the plant where I saw many on Wednesday morning. Now, I'm told it was invasive Japanese Knotweed. Mid-morning, I changed locations to Bay Village where I also posted seeing 100 Monarchs on a large Tickseed Sunflower field. At a different nearby site, I saw a few on New England Asters.

You can view my photos from both locations here:

https://fowlman1954.smugmug.com/Nature/Species-of-Creation/Butterfly-Species/Monarchs-in-Migration/2022-Fall-Peak-Migration-Monarchs/

In September 2015 a roost of over 4,000 arrived on the evening of the 12th.

Cleveland, OH

Latitude: 41.5 Longitude: -81.7

Observed by: Tom
Contact Observer

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