| Comments | Hundreds and hundreds of monarchs are filling our trees this evening! The butterflies definitely were not here in these numbers until this evening. Thursday night about 6 p.m. we found large aggregations of monarchs totaling approximately 1000 butterflies. They were clustered in groups ranging from ten to several hundred in a cluster. During the week we had observed an increased number of single monarchs flying south through the area. Temperatures had dropped from the 80's-90's to the 70's, with lows in the mid-50's at night.
Daily Field Observations
Friday, August 17
Saturday, August 18
Sunday, August 19
Monday, August 20
Tuesday, August 21
Wednesday, August 22
Thursday, August 23
Friday, August 24
Saturday, August 25
Sunday, August 26
Monday, August 27
Monday, August 28
Monday, August 29
Monday, August 30
Monday, August 31
Wednesday, Sept. 5
August 16 (con't.)
They were clustered on the S/SE branches of 11 maple, oak, elm & birch trees in our yard. The branches of choice were 10-20 ft from the ground-both with leaves and bare. The butterflies were still on the trees at 8 a.m. the next morning. We are surrounded with alfafa (recently mowed), clover (in full bloom) and corn fields. This is a very quiet rural area with good milkweed growth. The butterflies have also been attracted to open sugar-water feeders in the yard for the finches, orioles and hummingbirds. We found no monarchs in the butterly house. |
