16 September, 2011

Monarch Migration

Night before last, a big cold front was scheduled to move through and bring us the first frost of the season.  Dennis and I moved a lot of our potted plants inside and covered all the others that we left out on the patio.  It was a lot of work, but worth it because I doubt we will have another frost for a few more weeks.  I'm just not ready to see the outdoor growing season come to end just yet!

Yesterday, which dawned bright and clear, was pretty chilly - the low temp was a degree or so below freezing, so we were glad that we had taken care of the plants.  In the afternoon I was sitting at my desk at work in my north facing office on the 12th floor and was treated to the start of the monarch butterfly migration.  In less than one hour, I saw at least 20 monarch butterflies heading south past my window in downtown Rochester, Minnesota.  The cold front had initiated the big migration.
Nectaring on purple coneflower.
and Liatris (blazing star) back in July.
It is amazing and awe-inspiring that these butterflies will wind up in Mexico for the winter.  Not a bad plan.


Posted by Picasa

5 comments:

  1. Absolutely stunning images Wilma. That migration must be an amazing sight to see.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Superb photographs Wilma, perhaps photography should be your career move, and don't envy those butterflies, you'll be doing the same pretty soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Superb pictures Wilma.
    Quite trek for those butterflies. Must be amazing to see.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful images...they are wonderful to see.
    Many thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Roy - I hear that it is quite a site farther south as the numbers increase. I would love to see that in person.

    Derek - thank you. where do you think I got the idea? ;-)

    Keith - thanks. very inspiring.

    Andrew - thank you.

    thanks to all for visiting and especially for commenting.

    cheers,
    Wilma

    ReplyDelete

Blog Readers -- your comments are invited. I would love to hear from you.