<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
text-decoration:underline;}
pre
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"HTML Preformatted Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
span.HTMLPreformattedChar
{mso-style-name:"HTML Preformatted Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"HTML Preformatted";
font-family:"Courier New";}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>It was an unusual day yesterday in that I planned on, and in fact did, go hawk watching and doing my moth survey in the same day. In the fall, it’s different weather conditions that are favorable for those two endeavors. October days with winds from the northwest, but 80 degrees with good enough humidity are kind of rare in the northeast. But so it was yesterday. My ongoing moth survey is at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. To make that feasible and to limit travel, I chose Fort Tilden for the hawk watch effort. That site is on the Rockaway peninsula, toward the western end of the Long Island coast. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Well before the hawks got going in modest numbers, it was evident that one kind of migration was happening at a not so modest clip. That was the Monarch migration. I never actually count them, and it was obvious there were too many on this day to get bogged down counting one by one. I ran into Doug Gochfeld, who was more infatuated with the event than I was. He seemed to have a system where he did periodic minute counts, from which he could extrapolate a total number (or estimate). The first time that I saw him do that he got 60 in a minute. Later on he was getting counts that got up to around 150, and finally a peak of 170. Below is his summation to me in a personal e-mail, followed by a more detailed post to the New York State bird list. To add to that, the Monarchs were still going strong for three hours after he left. I’m not inclined to calculate how many that might have been. Even if the rate slowed down, I think it’s safe to say that well over 50,00 Monarchs passed through Fort Tilden yesterday.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>What I will also add to that is that it seems rather late for such a huge flight. My recollection, which was shared by Doug (from his days of doing the hawk count at Cape May) and Don Riepe, was that Monarch migration peaks around the third week of September. Changing times? The Osprey count yesterday was 63, which is a lot for so late. Moth night, among other things, included my latest ever underwing (The Sweetheart – <i>Catocala amatrix</i>). <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Another butterfly migration note. Obvious southbound migrants are Red Admiral and Question Mark. While these are October migrants, few of these were seen yesterday. While Common Buckeye, American Lady, and Painted Lady clearly migrate northward, I can’t say that I’d ever seen anything to convince me that they migrate back to the south. In most years, there aren’t enough Pained Ladies to work with. So what about in this banner year? I have to say that were quite a few around yesterday and most of the ones that I saw moving, were going in the right direction. The fly so low, and that makes it unclear if that’s really the intent. But Ryan MacLean, covering the Quaker Ridge (Greenwich) hawk watch yesterday, did tell me that he saw a couple flying high over the watch.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Steve Walter<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Bayside, NY <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>From Doug Gochfeld:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“As for Monarch numbers, I ended up getting to just barely over 35,000 (35,150), counting up all of my rates. This leaves a gap of 35 minutes when I wasn't counting (and Monarchs were going over the Fort proper, away from the beach at a few a minute at minimum). So probably safe to say in the 38,000 range from 0800 to 1415. I arrived around 0715, but only saw 2 Monarchs before 8 AM when the floodgates seemed to open a bit. The wind gaining intensity definitely correlated with a big increase in concentration and speed of the flight.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><pre>“<span lang=EN>However, the obvious highlight of the day was the massive westbound<o:p></o:p></span></pre><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>movement of Monarch Butterflies. An almost three hour vigil atop the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Battery Harris platform yielded approximately 4,000 of these, quantifying<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>it based on many minute-long counts taken throughout the morning. This all<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>came after 8:00 AM, when the flow started as if a faucet was turned on, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>ended around 10:00 AM. The wind was almost nonexistent early, and this<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>likely contributed to them being spread out north to south, and also moving<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>quite slowly to the west. I then headed over to the fisherman's lot to the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>west to see if there were Monarchs in the abundant Seaside Goldenrod there,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>even though the flow had appeared to lessen at that point.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>When I got over to the Fisherman's Lot, however, the flow was much thicker,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>and we peaked at a steady rate of 170/minute for 20 minutes or so, and over<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>150/minute for almost three hours (including those aforementioned 20<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>minutes), before slowing down to the 110/minute range, and then scaling<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>back even more as the wind shifted more to the west, which probably made<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>the flight much less concentrated. It was one of the more phenomenal<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>migratory movements of any animal that I've ever seen in the state. As for<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>total Monarch numbers, from the notes of the rates I was taking throughout<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>the day (until I left at 2:15 PM), I reckoned that I saw just about 35,000<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Monarchs heading west. Given a 40 minute gap in my counting, it would be<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>safe to say that 38,000-40,000 Monarchs passed through Fort Tilden through<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>2:15 PM.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>This never-ending ribbon of Monarchs through the dunes was truly astounding.”</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>