| Comments | I've been seeing LOTS of monarchs in the past couple of weeks, but nothing like I saw on August 14. I was walking on the St. Olaf College campus on a cool, cloudy afternoon when I came upon a stand of large shade trees (I believe they were maples). Several of the branches appeared to be covered with dead leaves, but suddenly when a flying monarch came close, the "dead leaves" opened up to become brilliant monarchs! It was like watching the speeded-up film of flowers opening, and with the sudden burst of color they would start fluttering about en masse. It was unspeakably beautiful, and the first time I've ever seen such a sight.
Some of them took off to flutter about the trees, but maybe because of the cool temperatures and lack of sun, they seemed to all lite back on the branches fairly quickly. There were definitely hundreds, and possibly thousands, in that little grove. |
