Will change in weather bring monarchs?

We had another heavy rain in Cape May over the weekend, but the rain cleared out on Sunday afternoon, pushed out by the autumn's first major cold front.  Gusty northwest winds triggered a major hawk flight, with hundreds of falcons passing over the Point on Sunday afternoon and a staggering tally of over 3,000 raptors counted on Monday.  Northwest winds are often the best for monarch migration too, but the winds were a bit too strong for a major butterfly migration event.

Tuesday is starting out clear and cool, with winds switching around to the northeast.  Could this be the day for a major influx of monarchs into Cape May?  It's certainly possible.  One of our volunteers reported a noticeable increase in monarchs yesterday at Ocean City, NJ, about 25 miles to our north.  Our team will be out watching today, and we'll report back promptly if monarch numbers increase significantly.

A small but very enthusiastic group showed up for Sunday's
tagging demo on a cold, wet, windy day.