Friends of Adams Farm, Inc.

Home
United States
Walpole, MA
Friends of Adams Farm, Inc.

Call Directions Website Contact the organization

The Friends of Adams Farm is a group of area residents dedicated to preserving the idyllic environmen
(1)

10/29/2026

6th week Monarch Butterfly Update:

Six of the original twenty Adams Farm Walpole, MA monarch butterflies were detected over the last week, all of them in Texas. They have been pinned down by weather and have moved little over the week. A brutal heat dome over much of Texas has given way to cooler temperatures along with much needed rain, conditions that are not conducive to monarch travel. The Texas Six have spent from seven to twenty days in the Lone Star State, and seem to be waiting until the weather turns favorable for flight. To reach the Reserve in Mexico they still have a range of between 625 miles (for AFW009 Bill and AFW019 Diane) and 900 miles (for AFW011 Felipe).

AFW004 Kornel has been incommunicado for eleven days, last detected on the Mexican border. She may have crossed into Mexico already but simply hasn’t been within range of detection. Of all the monarchs in the Adams Farm cohort she was deemed by Chip Taylor, founding Director of Monarch Watch, to have the best chance of making it to the reserve because of the more northerly route she took through Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky. She was the first to arrive in Texas on October 6 and stayed north along the borders with Arkansas and Oklahoma for eight days until the hot weather broke in the south.

It appears that AFW003 Rich was done in by the winds that may have taken him across the Gulf, much like AFW001 Barb was a victim of the wind from her 390 mile journey in 22 hours from Long Island, NY to Kitty Hawk, NC back in the early days after release on September 15. He hasn’t been detected for eight days after arriving in Veracruz, MX on October 20 after a three days journey from Louisiana. A few other monarchs from other cohorts have also recently crossed the Gulf and one, from SUNY, Oswego NY) appears to be in a good position to reach the Reserve.

Chip Taylor has noted that this is the latest migration ever. The butterflies are supposed to be in place at the Reserve by November 2, the Day of the Dead holiday in Mexico. Be looking for substantial movement south when the weather clears.

10/21/2026

Five weeks after their release from Adams Farm in Walpole, MA. the Adams Farm Walpole monarchs are still battling the elements as they attempt to reach the Monarch Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, and have made significant progress.

In an historic first, AFW26-MA-003 confirmed yesterday, October 21, 2026, a long held belief that some of the migrators might cross the Gulf of Mexico when he and another butterfly from a different cohort were detected in Veracruz, Mexico after crossing about 790 miles over the Gulf from Jennings, Louisiana beginning on Saturday October 17. Both butterflies flew during strong north and northeast winds over the Gulf. Cellular Tracking Technologies has produced an animation showing the paths of the two butterflies after their releases in Walpole, MA and Toronto, Ontario. The video is available on the Mentions page of the Friends of Adams Farm Facebook Website and at this link.
https://www.facebook.com/CellTrackTech/

Nine of the original twenty Adams Farm Walpole monarchs have been detected over the last week. As of Tuesday, October 21, six were in Texas, two were in Louisiana and one was in Mexico. The closest monarch to the Reserve is AFW 003, who is about 400 miles southeast. There is a huge question as to whether or not the monarchs that landed in Veracruz will now fly north towards the Reserve, indicated by the red circle in the photo. Monarch AFW 004 was last detected less than a mile from the Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas with about 600 miles to go. Stay tuned.

10/14/2026

Four weeks into their epic attempt to make it to the overwintering grounds sixty miles west of Mexico City, eleven Adams Farm Walpole monarchs detected in the last week are scattered from Texas to Alabama.

Three of the four monarchs that were in the direct path of Hurricane Isaias as it slammed into Alabama somehow survived that storm and have been detected west of their positions before the storm. Two others in Alabama have not been detected recently.

One monarch is in Southwest Mississippi, one in Southeast Arkansas, one in Northeast Louisiana, and four are in Eastern Texas. They are all dealing with temperatures ranging from the high 80s into the 90s, which must require lots of nectar consumption and appears to slow the migration.

The farthest monarch from the farm is AFW26-MA-004 Kornel, who has flown at least 1,560 miles and is currently near the Texas and Oklahoma border, about 150 miles northwest of Dallas. This monarch, a female, still has about 900 more miles to go before it reaches the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.

While nine of the original monarchs have not been detected for at least a week, they could still show up, as has happened with other monarchs from other cohorts.

10/04/2026

Now that Fall Day at the farm has past, it's back to all nature. Reposting the latest butterfly news:

According to Chip Taylor, Founding Director of Monarch Watch, history suggests that most monarchs entering GA below Atlanta’s latitude continue into FL, but so far these monarchs are bucking that trend.

The Adams Farm monarchs have been traveling for two weeks since release and most are concentrated in NC, SC, and GA. One has taken a more northerly route and is flying through TN today. The farthest monarchs are just about 1000 miles away the farm, about halfway to the Monarch Reserve. They benefited greatly from their positions at the time of the nor’easter as the north and northeast winds helped them cover up to 340 miles on Thursday and Friday, Sep 24 and 25.

The next few days will clarify whether they continue on around the Gulf or fly into FL. History suggests that most monarchs that enter GA below the latitude of Atlanta’s enter FL, but so far these monarchs seem to be bucking that trend.
Six monarchs are no longer being detected, which could be for a number of reasons: loss of transmitter, failure of transmitter, death of the butterfly, etc. One monarch from another study went 32 days and 700 miles between detections. As Chip Taylor has written, never underestimate a monarch.

10/03/2026

Thank you sponsors, bands, Friends of Adams Farm board members, Walpole police and our amazing community for making Farm Day 2026 a success.

See you at the farm again soon.

10/02/2026

See you Saturday Oct. 3rd 12 noon-3pm. Best farm day ever! Live music, food truck, face painting for free (free!), tractor pulled rides, trail tours. And........Castle Island Brewing Co. cause you know they have the best b**r and staff. Come see our Butterfly Garden. Fun for all ages.

10/01/2026

The Adams Farm monarchs have been traveling for two weeks since release and most are concentrated in NC, SC, and GA. One has taken a more northerly route and is flying through TN today. The farthest monarchs are just about 1000 miles away the farm, about halfway to the Monarch Reserve. They benefited greatly from their positions at the time of the nor’easter as the north and northeast winds helped them cover up to 340 miles on Thursday and Friday, Sep 24 and 25.

The next few days will clarify whether they continue on around the Gulf or fly into FL. History suggests that most monarchs that enter GA below the latitude of Atlanta’s enter FL, but so far these monarchs seem to be bucking that trend.

Six monarchs are no longer being detected, which could be for a number of reasons: loss of transmitter, failure of transmitter, death of the butterfly, etc. One monarch from another study went 32 days and 700 miles between detections. As Chip Taylor, founding Director of Monarch Watch, says never under estimate a monarch.

See you all at Fall Day 10/3 at Adams Farm, 999 North St., Walpole, MA. You can see the butterfly garden!

09/24/2026

Oct. 3rd is our free Fall Day at Adams Farm. Enjoy tractor rides, live music, food truck, Castle Island Brewing Co. and so much more. It's a free and family friendly. Even trail tours will be given. See you there!

09/21/2026

Here's where the Walpole Monarch butterflys are on the map today. Amazing! Thanks Rich as always.

09/19/2026

Here's an update on Monarch Butterfly Migration from our Monarch specialist, Rich Knowles:

Twenty monarch butterflies at Adams Farm have been fitted with tiny solar-powered Bluetooth transmitters so they can be followed as they make their migration south using crowd sourcing technology. The routes they are taking are interesting, as are the varying rates of travel. They are covering good ground and six have already reached Connecticut.

It is believed that only around twenty percent of the migrating monarchs succeed in reaching the Monarch Biosphere Reserve in the trans volcanic mountains of western Mexico.

2026 was another very good year for monarch butterflies at Adams Farm thanks to the community gardeners who plant great sources of nectar, the Butterfly Garden, and the Monarch Meadow which supplies swamp milkweed, common milkweed, and a good variety of nectar sources. Monarchs will continue migrating through Massachusetts right through October and into November. They are always looking for nectar sources for energy along the way, so any late blooming plants like Goldenrod, New England Asters, New York Asters, Zinnias, Cosmos, Butterfly Bushes and others, are critical.

If you would like to follow the travels of the Adams Farm Monarchs download the “Project Monarch Science” app to your phone, available from the Apple App Store and Google Play. The Adams Farm monarchs are named using the convention AFW26-MA-001 to -020. You can tap on the Data Tab on the bottom of the screen, then type in “afw” in the search field to see the Adams Farm list. You can also tap the Map Tab, then choose Adams Farm Walpole from the drop down list.

Your Board of Directors

The Friends of Adams Farm

Address

999 North Street
Walpole, MA
02081

Telephone

+16173833701

Website

http://www.adams-farm.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Friends of Adams Farm, Inc. posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.