14 monarchs in 40 minutes

[Iowa Tom]

I just signed up for this list.

I went out today to use up 14 tags I had left over from my classroom exercise and discovered that their numbers were still as high as they were last Saturday here in NE Iowa. I'm at 42.5 degrees Lat. They are quite prolific in a field of clover near my town. It was so easy to catch them for tagging that I netted two that were simply flying by. They practically flew into my net!

A welcome relief after a dismal beginning to the migration. The peak was supposed to be 912 but I can say there are a lot more now than then.

[froglegs]

Tom, I'm glad someone is having some luck. I am about to give up for the season here in Chicago. In the last 4 days I have seen maybe 10,
tagged 4 with about 15 hours in the field. The previous week was better,
but I still only have 19 tagged to date.

[Iowa Tom]

I caught 50 in about 2 hours max. They seem oblivious to my presence which reminds me of the general behavior of all insects that visit flowers this time of year. They seem totally intent on feeding and that's it. When I used to photograph insects in a serious way years ago I found it easiest to get close in Aug - Oct.

The days I collected monarchs were also pretty windy. That may have helped to camouflage my presence.

By the way, can someone give me a URL that will take me to a place where I can post the large migration to that migration map. I can't seem to locate it.

Thanks.