Yesterday I took my scooter down to the beach and along the Kennebunk Bridle Path. Between my house and the Rt.9 (2 miles through woods) I saw maybe 15 Monarchs crossing the road…between Rt 9 and the ocean (about a half mile), I must have seen 50. Standing in the parking area for the beach and looking back along the road in, they were every where.

Then, the Kennebunk Bridle Path, on the ocean side right off Rt. 9, runs through a solid stand of pines and is like a tunnel about 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall and several hundred yards long. You could stand there and watch the Monarchs coming at you, just above eye-level, one going by your head every 30 seconds in a steady stream. It was impressive! I wish I had thought to take a video.

Where the path opens out a bit more to the marsh on either side, I got distracted from the Monarchs for a while watching a trio of Black Saddlebags hunting along the path. More on that tomorrow, but the Monarchs became so common that I stopped looking at them. They were all in motion, coming in off the marsh, mostly on the river side, and funneling down to pass through the tunnel of trees. Eventually I noticed that the goldenrod in bloom along there was tempting the occasional Monarch to lite, so I kept half an eye out for one in good position for a photo.

It was, of course, our little down-home bit of the great Monarch migration. They are headed south, some as far as Mexico, to winter. Some of them will return next spring.

This specimen was actually one of the last photos I took on the sea side of the path before moving over to the other side of Rt. 9 to see what might be happening there. Some of the Monarchs, on closer view through the zoom on the camera, looked pretty well worn, but this one looks to be in good shape for its long journey south.

Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1680mm equivalent. f5.8 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 200. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.