Date: 08/26/2025

Number: 9

A light nw wind made the 26th of August a good migration day. If you were out driving or boating on a lake, you almost certainly would have seen a monarch or several.
I would call it the peak of the first wave from north of here (northern Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota).
Temps were in the mid 70s....still warm at sunset so not ideal for roost formation, but there definitely were efforts to find roosts in various spots at Standing Cedars South. In the end, I had to go back to the tree line at the road to find the only genuine cluster, 9 monarchs in the photo I took.
Monarchs were feeding on blooming bull thistles....and some on scattered liatris. goldenrod is nearing the peak and should be used more in the upcoming days.
On a related note, today (August 27) we spotted 4 newly eclosed monarchs at Ahlgren Nature Sanctuary.......and several caterpillars mostly in the 3rd thru 5th instar (and one chrysallis formed yesterday)......
So I predict our "wave" of migration Monarchs will continue from now until about mid September, with our peak being about the 5th thru the 10th.

Osceola, WI

Latitude: 45.3 Longitude: -92.7

Observed by: Pat
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