Date: 09/17/2024

Number: 2

Arrived at Point Pelee tip area approximately 19:00. Again today, the high-pressure system is still in play. Bright blue skies with high cirrus clouds. Steady moderate wind from the east. I took a screenshot of the Weather app on my phone at 18:36 for conditions in Leamington. It said, winds ENE 14 km/h with gusts to 25 km/h. I would say this matched with what I experienced. The waves hitting the east shoreline were audible from the tip shuttle parking area so I made my way up the west path. Columns of midges were already rising up over the trees. It should be noted that midges have been present for all of the visits that I have reported from Point Pelee. Not sure if they are a factor in the Monarch roosts. I have observed Monarchs opening and closing their wings if the midges come too close. As I proceeded down the west path I noticed a Monarch in flight. It disappeared out of my view. A short while later, I observed another (or possibly the same one) flitting around the patch of Goldenrod on the east side of the west path. He settled on a denuded branch on a Hackberry tree just above head height. His photo is attached. Using my binoculars, I was able to observe that his wings are a little tattered and semi transparent. Not sure that he is a migrating Monarch. I continued south down the path to the tip but it was evident well before the end of the path that the wind was blowing straight through the trees to the west path and it would not be ideal for a Monarch to choose these spots as they were too windy, as was the east side. Continued scanning with my binoculars and the naked eye, all the way back to the tip shuttle parking area. Ten minutes after sunset, at 19:35 a Monarch came in from the west and settled in the trees in the circle created by the tip shuttle roadway.
Conditions from the Point Pelee weather station at 19:00: 21°C, humidex 27°C, humidity 84%, dewpoint 18°C, barometric pressure 101.8 kPa.

Point Pelee National Park, ON

Latitude: 41.9 Longitude: -82.5

Observed by: Laura
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