Monarchs continue to surprise. Estela Romero, who works extensively with Journey North, reported on Tuesday (3 April) that there were still 30 trees festooned with large clusters of monarchs at El Rosario. See Estela’s first hand account.
I was yesterday Saturday morning in El Rosario, and can tell you that Monarchs keep wonderfully still at the same site, moving only some meters here and there within the same site; it is a little cloudt and yesterdaty even some drops or rain --only drops--, fell down. which means this might help them stay a few more days. I will be keeping a really close eye on their leaving.
Monday, March 19, 2018
Dear Friends:
March 20, 2018 by Ellen Sharp
The monarchs of Cerro Pelón have finally definitively departed. The CEPANAF rangers and Butterflies & Their People arborists saw some still clinging to trees on the afternoon of March 18. By the next morning, the trees emptied out and the air filled with butterflies. By midday of the 19th, they were all gone. Many seemed to have stopped over in El Rosario on their way out, where their numbers swelled over the last few weeks.
March 13, 2018 by Ellen Sharp
The monarchs on Cerro Pelon are keeping us guessing. Judging by their behavior last week, I thought I would be reporting their definitive departure this week.
March 6, 2018 by Ellen Sharp
Millions of monarchs are now en route to northern Mexico and Texas. After they were pelted with unseasonable rain on the afternoon of February 28, temperatures hit a midday high in the low 60s F up on the mountain. The rangers and arborists watching them thought that the butterflies were confused by these cues: on March 1 and 2, many began to depart.
This winter's population was down 15% from last year, and 60% below historic averages. This year's official population estimate is 124 million monarchs, compared to a long-term average of 300 million and a peak of 1 billion. The clustering butterflies covered 2.48 hectares of forest compared to a peak of 18 hectares in 1996 and an average of 6 hectares. A population of 6 hectares is the target for monarch recovery.
