Great question, Linda. It is true, but has more to do with the temperatures. Monarchs can not fly at temps below 55 degrees, and they can not live for long at temps below freezing. Sandy gave you a great resource for your newsletter at Monarchwatch.org. You will find a wealth of reliable information on their website. There is a small window of opportunity for them to have the best chance to migrate to Mexico, and succeed. Here's some info. Fall migration http://monarchwatch.org/tagmig/index.htm Peak migration Find your latitude, and plug it into here. http://monarchwatch.org/tagmig/peak.html This gives you a 12 day leeway, as it is only an estimate. This gives you a rough estimate as to when they should be migrating in your area. Remember that there may be some older females full of eggs, that may be unable to make the journey. They will continue to live out their life in your yard, happily laying eggs everywhere until they die. The eggs will hatch, and the caterpillars will eat, but they will probably develope slower, because your temperatures have cooled off, and their metabolism has gotten slower. They may or may not make it to a chrys., or emerge and not be able to fly if your temps are below 60 during the day, and close to freezing at night. I have had Monarchs in November before when we've had really nice weather in the fall, but they lived out their life in my garden, and did not try to migrate. When do you usally have your first hard freeze? With all of your nectar sources gone, even if they were protected enough to survive the freeze, they would not have food to survive. Hope that helped to answer your question. :) Do research the Monarch website to find lots of information.

JD- I would suggest leaving your feeders up until Thanksgiving. I am just north of you near Pottstown and had a Rufous hummingbird in my garden in 2009. They typically migrate late, October or November and are very rare. We get up to 12 a year in our area and I know they have been banded in West Chester and Lancaster (the bander could not catch mine). You are right in the middle of an area known for the unusual Rufous migration. If you are very lucky, you might see this very rare (for us) bird. If you spot a hummingbird in October or later, please contact a hummingbird bander. Scott is the one for our area. He has more information on the new migration pattern for Rufous hummingbirds here: http://www.scottweidensaul.com/hummingbirds/ Bellatrix Here is a link that might be useful: My Rufous Hummingbird

In my experience it can take forever. Some worms will migrate; many will not. I've tried this method and even 6 months later found many hundreds of worms in the side that is not being fed. However, I believe other people's worms do migrate as advertised. If anyone has a theory why it works for some and not others, I would love to hear it! Good luck with yours!

Hey scorpgirl My local raptor watch group has been counting migrating raptors since August. Anyone can show up at the watch and help spot the birds. Binoculars sure do help, though not necessary. Having people there to help you identify the birds so you know what you're looking at is also nice. The count is then submitted to HMANA. http://hawkcount.org/ You may be able to find a count near you at this site. Everyone here says that in New Jersey the place to be for migration is Cape May. We are known here as a good place for spotting golden eagles- but you have to dress real warm if you want to see them. They migrate Nov. -Dec. Here is a link that might be useful: hawkcount