Red Admiral flight
Chip Taylor
chip at ku.edu
Thu Jun 7 14:33:20 EDT 2001
This is perhaps the best year I've ever seen for southern migrants in
KS (11 butterfly species - earlier and in larger numbers than usual)
and I gather that many of you are having similar experiences. I don't
have much time for field work but while introducing a student to
field studies on 1 June, I made the following observations;
Monarchs (3) vanishing bearings - gliding and powered flight 350-10 degrees
Red Admirals (about 20) strong powered flight vb - 320-340 degrees
Mourning Cloaks - not common in our area - (at least 6) all powered
flight- slow - vb 270 degrees - many (>20) seen later in the day -
some also moving west.
Time 9:30-10:30 CDT
Winds 5-8 miles/hr from 220 degrees
Sun - unobstructed
Temp - high 60's -low 70's
Curiously, each species was responding differently to the same
conditions. Also, an hour later the monarchs - at least 20 seen -
showed no directional flight.
Those of you interested in migrations might find David Gibo's website
"Tactics and Vectors" -
http://www.erin.utoronto.ca/~w3gibo/goalsof.htm - to be of interest.
Similarly, Royce Bitzer's site
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mariposa/homepage provides additional
guidance on how to record migration data.
--
Monarch Watch
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usps: University of Kansas, Entomology Program, 1200 Sunnyside
Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045-7534
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