This year I had the best birthday celebration! We took a trip to see where 120 million monarch butterflies over-winter in the fir trees high in the mountains of Mexico, 10,000 ft. above sea level, in Michoacán, the state neighboring Jalisco to the East. It so happens that the end of February is an excellent time to visit their wintering grounds! El Rosario is the most accessible reserve open to the public, so we started there.
Our good friends, Greg and Elizabeth, joined us for the fairly uneventful six-hour drive to Angangueo, where we spent two nights and visited two butterfly sanctuaries: El Rosario and Chinqua. Here we are - four happy hikers!
At El Rosario, a long hike up the mountain is made easier by man-made landings and stairs. But, it’s still a really steep hike! The high altitude makes it even more challenging. However, what we saw made it all worthwhile. Words cannot adequately describe the number and beauty of these wonderful lepidopteran insects!
We could hear, as well as see, them flying as thousands streamed through the passageways between the trees. Looking up, with the sun shining through the butterflies, they looked like small stained glass pieces against the cobalt backdrop.
It was truly an amazing natural phenomenon! We were all mesmerized by the sheer number of them moving about. Or even better, not moving about, as they clung to the fir trees in astounding formations, one on top of the other. The formations dangled in the breeze and as the sun warmed their bodies they took to the air, unfurling their wings. It was absolutely magical and, dare I say it…awe inspiring!!
Our second day, we visited Chinqua, a lesser known sanctuary. The hike to find the butterflies was a little rougher to traverse, but not as long a hike as the day before and we got much closer to the trees where they were resting. Both days we had perfect weather for them to want to move about. We’ve read that when it’s cold they just cling to the trees to conserve their energy. So the warmer days of late February and early March are the best time to visit. Starting around the first day of spring, the butterflies begin their journey North to the US and Canada. On the left side of the tree in the photo below, you can see the incredible dangling formations of hundreds of butterflies! In the dark areas to the right, there are hundreds of thousands more!!
See our Best of Monarch Butterflies album (most photos courtesy of Greg and Elizabeth), or better yet, a stylish new video:
For more, see Greg’s original video at Monarch Butterflies at Sierra Chinqua.
Learn all about the Monarch Butterfly migration from the experts at Journey North: Monarch Butterfly Migration.
Written by Leigh…
2018-04-16; KEH: Updated links; added stylish new video.
2018-04-21; KEH: New improved stylish new video.