Date: 06/11/1997

Number: 1

I realize that monarch sightings this spring are old hat to many of you, but I hadn't seen any in WI or MN until Wednesday (6/11/97) of this week. I worked with Lincoln Brower and Sue Borkin at their monitoring site in Door County WI, and we saw five females, all ovipositing, and four males patrolling and nectaring on lilacs. The monarchs' condition ranged from slightly worn to quite fresh. We saw a few eggs, but no larvae. These monarchs were in old fields near the Newport State Park near the tip of Door County. The lilacs, left over from an old farmstead, were the only nectar sources around.

We have several volunteers in Door County to monitor larvae this summer as part of our collaborative monitoring project. This area is interesting, because monarchs may get stuck at the tip if they are unwilling to fly out over Lake Michigan. Lincoln and Sue have been monitoring early monarchs there for over a decade.
Karen Oberhauser

Door County, WI

Latitude: 45.2 Longitude: -87.1

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