Fall Monarch Migration

[Happygirl]

September 18th 2005
I had 100's of them land in my back yard last year and today was the day I started seeing them flying in, 1, 2's , 3's up to 6 at a time. All landing in my maple trees and elm tree. I guess I am now officially a rest spot path for their winter migration.
My zipcode is 62040 I am in IL.
Today I called my mother over and we sat outside and watched them for a couple of hours fluttering in. Some of them are HUGE , some very small , some BRIGHT Orange some not as orange. Had one that was black and blue but tipped with a monarch orange pattern, very strange. Will have to do some research on that one, wondering if there are hybrids of such butterfly's is that common?

[Teresa]

I'm so jealous!! I'd love to see something like that.

[Paula]

Happygirl, Thank you for reporting your Monarch migration sighting on 09-18-05. That must have been a wonderful experience. The last time I saw Monarchs here NW Indiana was on 09-12-05 (one being tagged GML 079). So I have started believing they are migrating early this year & hope the Monarchs from northwest Indiana here earlier in week are those arriving 09-18-05 in your IL area 283 miles southwest of NW Indiana -- 50 miles per day, or 100 miles every other day between nectar refueling? Does anyone reading this reply know: What is the average distance miles/km. that Monarchs travel during migration?

[froglegs]

I may have started tagging early in fall 2005; have been monitoring some prairie sites, and had a magical experience Aug 25--hundreds of Monarchs
flying, roosting, sometimes 5-6 per plant. I used up the tags I had with me, ran home to get my daughter and returned with more. I was aware
it was earlier than the migration schedule called for, but it was impossible not to catch them, unlike previous year where I couldn't use half the tags I ordered. After that day, the numbers dropped off dramatically.
Unfortunately none have been recovered.

[froglegs]

Jim, do you have any data on the point in the migration tagging is done with recovery rates? I see that of the 12 recoveries so far from Illinois in 2005, all were tagged about second week of Sept. If we see a large number of Monarchs like I did Aug 25, should we not tag them? I have to assume they were migrating--there were more there that one day then I have seen on ALL the previous days of observation there (over50) combined.

[Jim]

Hi frog...can I call you frog?

This is one analysis we plan to do when we have the resources to do so - tagging a bit earlier than the peak of the migration actually helps us zero in on the critical dates for the migration. Stay tuned to our monthly newsletters for updates. You might also be interested in reading through our preliminary analysis of tagging data and suggested tagging dates based on latitude ranges.

Hope this helps!

[froglegs]

Thanks Jim, I'll keep an eye on the data. I didn't see very many in mid-September, so the decision will be to tag when I see large numbers gathering vs. tagging only at the suggested peak times to increase my odds of a recovery.

[froglegs]

I've gotten more info suggesting that monarchs start congregating in large numbers the last week of August around Chicago. A dedicated
nature watcher told me of seeing large numbers along Lake Michigan
the last week of August and only scattered numbers since.

[jturk3]

I have tagged at 2 different latitudes (38.46 and 39.26) and my personal calculations helped me hit the peak this year. I started seeing a few monarchs on 9/8/2006 in my current 38.46 location. The peak this year was 9/23-24 but I still saw a few on 10/10. I believe weather played a role because 9/30 was windy,cloudy and cool and I saw no butterflies. The next weekend 10/7 I did see a few. In the 39.26 latitude last year the peak I observed was 9/17-18 about a week earlier that here.