Date: 09/07/2022

Number: 15

My husband and I left Arcade, New York on September 6, traveling around 6 hours to Lake Eaton camp ground, located just 3 miles north of a hamlet in the Adirondacks, Long Lake, New York.

Knowing that this would be peak or near peak migration for monarchs at this latitude, I took my net with me and the remaining migration tags I ordered from Monarch Watch in August.

Two days before leaving on our trip, I had just finished tagging 11 monarchs I reared from 11 eggs found on small common milkweed shoots that had popped in a lawn, a mowing zone. I called these monarchs, my rescues.

On September 7, around 3 PM we drove to Long Lake for a tour. Immediately, at town line, we started seeing monarchs sailing and soaring across the main street, just missing being hit by cars. All were headed SW across a causeway. Not expecting to see so many monarchs on our first day, I did not have my net or tags. So we drove back to camp to retrieve these items.

By the time we returned, the monarch numbers were dwindling but I did net and tag one male that day.

From 9/7 to 9/14, we saw monarchs everywhere, at camp, in town, hiking, canoeing... The weather was balmy, in the high 60s and low 70s with sun and friendly clouds and light breezes.

I tagged #14 on 9/14, a female. The next day a cold north wind blew in, ushering in a weather change. That was the end of my monarch observations.

The most monarchs we saw were in and around town, especially on an un-mowed hills used for recreation in winter. The Golden Rod and other wildflowers were at peak along with the monarchs! Most of the monarchs I netted, were fueling up on large purple clover flowers.

A town mower I talked to assured me that he did not mow certain areas with wildflowers, to ensure there were places for pollinators, like monarchs. I also noticed that common milkweed was growing in people's manicured yard gardens. A couple of local folks, one a naturalist, said they had seen more monarchs this summer than in previous years.

I only had 14 tags and I used them all. I could have tagged 100 + monarchs.

The submitted photo is of a female monarch I netted and tagged at our Lake Eaton camp site on 9-11.

Long Lake, NY

Latitude: 44 Longitude: -74.4

Observed by: Donna
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