Date: 06/13/1998

Number: 1

Fort MacMurray is about
840 km (528 mi) north of the US-Canada border-- pretty isolated, rugged country. But to be so
far north so early. Where did it come from? Mexico? Western U.S.? Have the migrating monarchs passed us by and headed northward? Remember Alan's early reports from Elliot Lake?

I agree with Don. Tthese n. Alberta and n. Saskatchewan
sightings in early May are simply awesome if accurate. In the W. US, overwintered monarchs reached the OR/WA border area at the very tail end of April. I did some extrapolation and figured the
butterflies would have had to continue to fly more than 40 miles per day to
reach the Edmonton, Alberta area by May 15, which seems a bit unrealistic.

I also tried to do an extrapolation from the northernmost area where
Journey North observations were coming in at the end of April. Again, the
butterflies would have had to cover somewhere between 45-70 mi/day.

Fort McMurray, AB

Latitude: 56.7 Longitude: -111.4

Observed by:
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