Date: 09/18/2022

Number: 3000

Second day of a large amount easily in the thousands across our property

[Additional information contributed by observer, added by Journey North, 09/20/2022]:

We did have a fall roost 3 years ago, with similar numbers in a more compacted timeline.

It was around 8/27 that we first noticed a large amount of monarchs, probably between 100-300 at first. Gradually the number seemed to grow, sometimes even doubling from the previous day. Moving into September we were probably around 1000, and this last weekend 9/16-19, it was easily closer to 3000.

Around our house is a couple hundred acres of harvested wheat fields that have a clover cover crop planted in them. Other than that, normal flower beds and gardens.

The following link seems to be a pretty accurate depiction of the weather. https://www.localconditions.com/weather-woodburn-indiana/46797/past.php

The monarchs started in a Siberian elm, also favoring 2 callery pear trees and a weeping willow (just as they did 3 years ago). The trees are situated so that they can move around in them to avoid the wind. As the roost has grown the have used most of the trees on the property including honey locust, blue spruce, silver maple, northern catalpa, Norway maple, Russian olive, and eastern white pine

They are hard to count, so we are doing our best estimates by how many we see on one branch, and how many trees they are in at one time.

From the first sighting until around 9/16 we really only noticed big concentrated amounts in the evening as dusk approached. Starting on 9/16 I first noticed them in the morning in large amounts, they seem to leave from around 2-5 or so, and then again filling the trees up as evening approaches.

Edgerton, IN

Latitude: 41.1 Longitude: -84.8

Observed by: Evan
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