Date: 09/07/2022

Number: 30

Weather changed from overcast to bright sun and low humidity in the afternoon. Counted 30 monarchs in 30 minutes. More than half were flying south, the rest flew west along the shoreline of Gull Pond.

[Report moved from Monarch Adult Sighted to Monarch PEAK Migration by Journey North, 09/08/2022; additional information contributed by observer, added by Journey North, 09/09/2022]:

I saw 30 monarch in 30 minutes. We had a sudden change in weather and I think the monarchs were taking advantage of the warm sun and the light breeze. I started counting at 4 pm and we stopped at 4:30 pm as the number/frequency of monarchs diminished. We did see three more over the next half hour.

They were all in the same area. We have a dock on Gull Pond. We were sitting on the dock when I saw the first monarch. The remaining butterflies came from the same area - flying out of the woods and over the water. Some flew directly south over the open water and some flew along the tree line in a more westerly direction. We witnessed a similar monarch migration once before - same area.

They were all directionally flying. I did not see any nectaring or egg laying. The monarchs that were flying westerly along the shoreline could have been heading to a meadow. I’ve reported many monarchs in the meadow this summer. The goldenrod and asters are in full bloom. The meadow is behind a tree line and is too far away for me to see if any of the monarchs flying west went to nectar.

Also, the monarchs were flying above the tree line - too high to get a good photo.

Sections of Gull Pond Road are lined with common milkweed. We have lots and lots of caterpillars still on milkweed. I hope to see another wave of monarch migration as more butterflies emerge. Mt. Arab is at the western end of Gull Pond. I wonder if there is an air current or updraft at the west end of the lake that attracts the monarchs during migration.

Tupper Lake, NY

Latitude: 44.2 Longitude: -74.5

Observed by: Catherine
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