Chris,

I've been wondering whether there's a field with lots of milkweed near your
fountainhead of Monarchs. Perhaps this spot draws Monarchs moving along the
CT. But I'm also wondering if there was some exceedingly successful laying
in a milkweed field nearby, and your hotspot was a first stop for lots of
newly eclosed Monarchs.

Congrats on the Variegated Frit!

Bryan


>I was surprised to visit the Norwich floodplain clover field that has been
>very reliable for migrating Monarchs this fall and find the species almost
>completely absent today. I looked carefully from 12:30-1:30 pm and found
>none. Wondering if there might be a time-of-day effect (all my previous
>visits have been in late afternoon), I returned at 5:00 pm, when it was
>considerably cooler but still sunny and c. 50 degrees F, found and tagged a
>single Monarch. Plenty of red clover still in flower, so I wonder if
>migration is wound down, or if I just hit an off day. It seems like a very
>dramatic fall-off, considering I had at least 200 Monarchs in this field 5
>days earlier.
>Other species;
>Clouded Sulphur (15)
>Orange Sulphur (3)
>Cabbage White (1)
>Variegated Fritillary (1, no question on ID this time)
>Great Spangled Fritillary (1, very tattered, suspect the same individual
>seen here on 9/18 and 9/25)
>Chris
>
>Chris Rimmer
>Vermont Institute of Natural Science
>27023 Church Hill Road
>Woodstock, VT 05091
>802-457-2779 ext. 120
><www.vinsweb.org>

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