Date: 05/29/1999

Number: 1

Contributed by Monarch Watch

On the weekend of May 29-30 I went on a bog butterfly survey the eastern

half of Michigan's upper peninsula. Monarchs were common in Mackinac,
Chippewa, and Luce counties. We regularly saw them while we were driving.
I observed 6 monarches nectaring in a blooming apple tree along the
southern shore of Lake Superior between Paradise and Sault Ste. Marie
(Chippewa Co). We also flushed two monarchs from the ground cover of a
northern heath bog in western Chippewa county at 8:30 AM. I can only
assume they were roosting there the previous night, because butterflies
were not observed actively flying until about 9:30 AM that day.
However,
the best observation of all was made at a large patch of lilacs at an old,
abandoned homestead in Mackinac county west of Trout Lake, MI. There we

saw over a dozen monarches actively nectaring on the lilac blooms, mating,
and ovipositing on common milkweed plants.

Trout Lake, MI

Latitude: 46.2 Longitude: -84.9

Observed by:
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