I belong to the email listserv for the Monarch Watch organization, and I shared
the news from many of you about a big visible Monarch migration event to that
list, as folks often do there.
The founder and director of Monarch Watch replied and I thought you might be
interested, so I'm forwarding his reply.
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From: "Taylor Jr, Orley R" <chip@xxxxxx>
Sent: 10/1/21 5:27 PM
To: DPLEX-L <dplex-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Dplex-L] Monarchs streaming over Kentucky
This migration is late. The sun angle at solar noon (SASN) for Louisville was
48 degrees yesterday - only about 6-7 days until the end of most migrations.
Monarchs are typically zero to scarce once the SASN descends to 46 degrees.
I just walked through the garden at Monarch Watch where I saw at least 20
monarchs nectaring on Tithonia, tropical milkweeds, butterfly bushes and a few
other composits. Interestingly, among these was one old and tattered male, the
last of the final reproductive cohort of the year.
The SASN for Lawrence, KS today is 47.56 degrees. We typically have modest
numbers of monarchs through the 4th of Oct, but this year we could be seeing
monarchs through the 10th.
Days with 90F temperatures slow down the migration and we have had too many of
those this September - including two on Monday and Tuesday this week.
Unfortunately, late migrations are associated with lower numbers of monarchs at
the overwintering sites.
The rains continue in critical parts of Texas and NE Mexico ahead of the
migration. Hopefully, these rains will improve the availability of nectar for
the arriving monarchs.
On Sep 30, 2021, at 11:39 PM, Patti Bell <pbjoin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I completely missed it; I was heads-down at work all day and not reading my
personal email until dark, but many folks on my Kentucky birding email list
are reporting “hundreds” of Monarchs streaming by today. The reports say they
are quite high, riding thermals, and you need binoculars to see them. One
birder in Louisville said you could easily get 5-10 Monarchs in one binocular
view over Louisville this morning.
Patti Bell
Louisville, KY
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