As the Grackles biked south against strong headwinds for the MS150, Monarch Butterflies fluttered to Lucky Boy Ranch fighting the same strong gusts. The good news, as for the Grackles, is they arrived safely…and in big numbers.
THIS is the Monarch festival I’ve been bragging about all season. Wouldn’t you know it was the one weekend when I would head to the ranch with only Cocoa and Sufy as my canine tagging team? Most of my ranch partners were biking to the beach.
Still managed to snag 72 Monarchs in my net, not to mention two I tagged in my own backyard for a weekend talley of 74. That brings the season total to 144–far from my millenial goal, but I’m not complaining.
It was unusual tagging as Monarchs rested and roosted in the thick cedar along the Llano as winds gusted to 30 miles per hour. Sufy and Cocoa would run ahead of me, flushing them like quail. The resilient creatures fought the blowing current, treading air and making them possible–but not easy–to net.
Hundreds, probably thousands of Monarchs showed up this weekend. Thrice I had more than five butterflies in my net, and I can’t count how often I swinged and missed. Multiple Monarchs in the bag feels fantastic, the squirming life of minnows in a bucket.
Next week will be the peak.
Tags: Butterflies, Monarch Butterflies, Monarch Migration, Monika Maeckle, tagging Monarch Butterflies, tagging Monarchs
