Is it too early for the migration south?

[Farfalla]

My friend emailed me from the Jersey Shore.She said while she was out on a fishing boat in the bay a Monarch came and landed next to her.
Isn't it too early for the migration? And if it is.. why would a Monarch be out on the open water?

[MILW]

Maybe it got blown out to sea by one of the recent storms?

[troot]

Early in July, I was vacationing in northern Minnesota. Several times during the week, I saw monarchs when I was in the middle of the lake. Maybe they get blown around/carried by the wind. It seems early for them to be migrating. Isn't migration usually triggered by photoperiod? The monarchs here in Minnesota usually start migrating around mid-August when we're down to about 14 hours of daylight. Teresa

[ButterflyLdy]

My question too, when do the monarchs actually begin their migration south? Do we only want to tag the migrators - if so, how do I know my cats are the migrator generation? I see you can order eggs all the way into October. Will the October monarchs make it all the way down to Mexico in time to overwinter?

I'm waiting for my tags, apparently there was a large increase of people wanting tags this year. Does that mean the monarch population is up?

Since I've started doing this, my neigbors have commented that they've never seen so many monarchs or butterflies during this time of year. Either they are just more aware because they know I'm raising cats, or as I would hope is the case - the monarch population is up.

Rebecca
http://www.librarylady.us/butterflylady.html

[Mona Miller]

http://www.monarchwatch.org/tagmig/index.htm
Check the peak migration date for your area. There is a website on that page to determine you latitude. You must know that to check the dates.

October is late, but it depends on where you are located. If further south, then October is no late. There are many Monarchs traveling along the east coast the first week of October.

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/mona ... Roost.html
This is a map on Journey North of the roost in the fall of 2007.

Journey North follows Monarch Migration north and south. On February 7, they will start posting information about the colony in Mexico and then follow them into June.

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/News.html

I love reading the post every week. Keeps me informed about their progress south.