20 YEARS AND COUNTING . . . .
2009
CAPE MAY POINT, NJ
This page will be updated weekly between September 1 and October 31. Data represents running seasonal totals for our road census. The MMP team for 2009 includes Louise Zemaitis, MMP Coordinator, Claire Iseton, MMP field technician, Dick Walton, MMP Director, Kim Peters, Director of Research & Monitoring at CMBO, and David Mizrahi, Vice President for Research at CMBO. Lincoln Brower is our co-researcher and scientific advisor.
The Cape May Point Road Census is conducted three times per day from September 1st through October 31st. Counts are made by a single observer driving a car approximately 20-25 mi. per hour along a 5 mile route. All monarchs observed are tallied but no stops are allowed to count specific concentrations. The route passes through a variety of habitats including southern hardwood forest, agricultural field, brackish wetland meadow, suburban neighborhoods, and coastal dunes along the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay. See Monarch Monitoring Project Page for a map of the route.
To put the years' data in perspective, Table #1 gives cumulative averages (monarchs observed per hour) at the end of each week since 1992. Final column gives the mean for monarchs/hour for each week for the 2009 season.
| Week | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | *2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7.52 | 11.95 | 95.96 | 43.30 | 9.08 | 184.49 | 2.85 | 23.35 | 2.44 | 23.39 | 6.74 | 24.85 | 5.53 | 32.04 | 25.03 | 42.95 | 14.32 | 26.08 | |
| 2 | 10.94 | 12.25 | 155.29 | 35.11 | 6.66 | 125.12 | 28.68 | 17.12 | 2.87 | 32.82 | 24.84 | 19.19 | 4.37 | 27.01 | 49.52 | 33.45 | 10.16 | 17.03 | 7.40 |
| 3 | 12.13 | 41.65 | 143.49 | 28.86 | 52.29 | 155.55 | 20.56 | 106.07 | 12.20 | 44.49 | 37.41 | 14.37 | 5.99 | 25.37 | 77.54 | 66.25 | 16.27 | 24.04 | 38.18 |
| 4 | 12.95 | 67.83 | 123.57 | 27.22 | 58.99 | 173.27 | 38.95 | 181.11 | 37.90 | 66.64 | 45.48 | 12.17 | 7.41 | 47.68 | 247.75 | 64.62 | 15.09 | 23.90 | 23.50 |
| 5 | 11.89 | 82.03 | 128.63 | 26.95 | 73.17 | 152.96 | 50.66 | 463.49 | 41.10 | 91.46 | 38.12 | 25.45 | 9.21 | 54.21 | 325.18 | 64.70 | 27.53 | 36.85 | 89.29 |
| 6 | 12.26 | 80.60 | 108.87 | 26.87 | 69.10 | 140.47 | 49.95 | 475.09 | 37.25 | 85.25 | 37.48 | 44.23 | 10.48 | 47.30 | 279.77 | 60.43 | 30.98 | 44.96 | 67.19 |
| 7 | 12.66 | 71.77 | 95.34 | 28.78 | 66.42 | 129.10 | 53.50 | 409.10 | 34.00 | 82.99 | 34.82 | 51.17 | 9.98 | 79.28 | 280.29 | 88.55 | 38.01 | 37.85 | 4.51 |
| 8 | 11.17 | 65.49 | 91.44 | 27.41 | 63.04 | 114.00 | 51.00 | 357.75 | 30.85 | 81.38 | 33.77 | 47.46 | 9.00 | 71.34 | 219.45 | 82.90 | 32.41 | 36.40 | 20.35 |
| Final | 10.41 | 62.88 | 84.95 | 25.89 | 58.91 | 106.61 | 46.82 | 328.56 | 28.61 | 75.84 | 31.42 | 44.50 | 8.45 | 65.79 | 202.08 | 79.85 | 30.11 | 34.67 | 5.78 |
All data © Richard K. Walton and Lincoln P. Brower.
We invite you to join CMBO and support the educational and research efforts of the Monarch Monitoring Project. 2009 should be an exciting season! Specific information about our talks and walks as well as Monarch tagging demonstrations is available from:
Cape May Bird Observatory
Center for Research and Education
600 Route 47 North, Cape May Court House, NJ 08201
Phone: 609.861.0700
Open Daily 9:00-4:30
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