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Monarchs in Westport
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madelinec-@comcast.net
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Sep 22, 2005 19:05 PDT
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I was at Allen's Pond on Monday the 19th, it was a beautiful warm breezy day. There is a lot of goldenrod at the edges of the fields, common goldenrod and lance-leaf goldenrod, which the Monarchs preferred. I didn't walk through the fields, only along the goldenrod at the edges. I also went down the mowed road on the other side of the gravel road that has lots of goldenrod in bloom, it is part of the Allen's Pond sanctuary. Very little butterfly activity along the gravel road and beach area.
A conservative count of Monarchs was 124 - at times it was hard to count because there were so many moving around on the goldenrod. There were numerous Clouded and Orange Sulphurs, Pearl Crescents, Painted Ladies, ETB's, Cabbage Whites, a couple of Black Swallowtails, 1 Red Admiral and 1 Mourning Cloak.
Ted Johnson reported that he (conservatively) counted 55 Monarchs at Gooseberry that day.
A lot of the goldenrod isn't in bloom yet, so it should continue to be good down there. The new butterfly garden at the Field Station still has a lot of good flowers.
In about an hour of searching I found 23 Monarch eggs.
madeline
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