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Migration Rate Math
Who saw the strongest migration this week?

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Week ending September 14, 2007
Here are a few of this week's observations. Read the comments and calculate the migration rate for each.
Record this fall's most impressive observations on your Record Sheet and add your favorites to your own Migration Highlights Map.

9/12/07 Pennsburg, PA (42.39 N, -75.48 W)
We saw 22 migrating monarchs in 45 minutes. They flew past our house and backyard in the afternoon between 2:15pm and 3:00pm. The weather was clear and sunny, with a light breeze from the north.

9/12/07 Lagrange, KY (38.39 N, -85.27 W)
I just counted 56 monarchs in less than 1 hour, flying west using directional flight. There is a northwest wind blowing and they are definitely using it. Temperatures are expected to drop into the upper 40's tonight so I believe they are using the wind and warm weather today to get moving through here.

9/10/07 Harsons Island, MI (42.69 N, -83.06 W)
I saw approx 50+ Monarchs (one or two at a time) flying out over Lake St. Clair near Harsons Island from 1300 hrs to about 1400 hrs. What was also neat was that all of them were flying in the same narrow path, heading to the southwest.

9/9/07 Wallingford, CT (41.46 N, -72.80 W)
Within the course of one hour, I counted 11 monarch butterflies heading south through my yard.

9/8/07 Brooklyn, NY (40.69 N, -73.99 W)
We saw 12 monarch butterflies in the span of 10 minutes. The time of the observation was 3:40 pm to 3:50 pm.

9/6/07 Kandiyohi, MN (45.11 N, -94.94 W)
We saw Monarch Butterflies all over our goldenrod. It was cloudy and windy. I watched for 30 minutes and saw about 50 butterflies. I think they were drinking nectar. They were settling on the goldenrod, flying up and settling again.

9/9/07 Prairie City, IA (41.55 N, -93.25 W)
For the second consecutive day, migrating monarch butterflies were putting on a show at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge. During three hours of observations on Sunday morning, 403 monarchs were counted--mostly in the northern part of the refuge. For the most part, they were nectaring once again on tickseed sunflowers and purple asters. One-hundred were counted in the first half-hour beginning at 9 a.m. A strong breeze was blowing from the north northwest, and numerous monarchs were noted coming up out of the big bluestem grasses where they likely had spent the night.

You can collect more observations like these from the sightings database and migration maps.