| Comments | A spectacle of nature occurred late this afternoon in the skies over central Iowa. The day's temperature had tied a record high at 97, and a cold front was passing through from the northwest to southeast. At approximately 4:30 p.m., migrating monarch butterflies could be seen in the sky floating on the wind, their shadows showing sharply against the clouds above. As the wind picked up in intensity, monarchs could be seen flying high and quickly, floating speedily on the wind, or being pushed to the east by the windy conditions. Above our butterfly garden in Altoona, Iowa, approximately 100 monarchs were counted in about 40 minutes from 5:20 p.m. to 6 p.m. as the cold front passed through the area. Many of the monarchs could be seen only through binoculars while others could be seen with the naked eye as their shadows showed on the clouds above. It was a riveting event and displayed the extremes of weather through which the monarchs must pass as they make their way southward to Mexico. [See Dr.Woodward's website Save the Monarch, with daily observation journal.] |
