Date: 09/26/2024

Number: 10

Trouble entering previous days sightings, so will enter today's data and list previous days here as well.
This is Thursday, several days after the cold front and north wind "chased" our monarchs away.
I thought on Sunday (Sept 22) that I would not see many more monarchs, but I was surprised at what has occurred:
Sunday, we saw about 10 monarchs, a few on the late blooming lilacs and a few at Standing Cedars South, feeding on New England Asters. Rain Sunday morning kept the monarchs roosting until almost noon, but when the skies cleared and temperatures rose into the 60s, most left on their migration flight.
The following days have been interesting. I will note sightings for....
Sept 24: Went to Kennedy county park (arrow on map), which is just south of Ahlgren Wildlife Area. Found a lot of monarchs feeding in the Asters......12-20 at Kennedy, and another 6 or so at Ahlgren. Not sure if these were migrating monarchs or from a late hatch at Ahlgren and Kennedy. The timing of the 2nd generation emergence and the egg laying and 3rd generation emerging about now seem likely. Winds have again shifted from the south and temperatures are climbing daily to high 70s and even 80s. We continue to spot monarchs flying directionally into the wind at low altitudes.
Sept 26: Today's sightings were similar, but fewer in numbers than the 24th. Went to Kennedy again and in addition to 2 or 3 road crossings, found about 10 monarchs feeding (again, on New England Asters).
These may or may not be migrating monarchs; again, i suspect that some or even most might be from the late hatch in this area.
If I continue to spot monarchs in the days ahead, I will put them in the peak migration category, but we are obviously on the tail end of that.
No pictures here...my efforts to add them have crashed my earlier reports, so we'll just go with these words : )

Amery, WI

Latitude: 45.4 Longitude: -92.5

Observed by: Pat
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