November 11, 2012
Dear friends:
The monarchs fooled on me in an astonishing way! I have stood immobile, watching the sky during the last days with eyes and mouth wide open. However, it seems the monarchs flew directly to El Rosario Sanctuary without stopping at El Cerrito this year the way they normally do.
I went to El Rosario and could hardly believe that a very large colony was already there! I counted 13 trees filled with butterflies, and my guide confirmed this number. The colony has formed in a part of El Rosario known as "Los Letreros."
The guide also told me that, due to the rather bad weather over the past two weeks, the colony only started to formed during the past week. Some national visitors were there and a few foreigners have also started to arrive.
I hope you enjoy the wonderful photos I took yesterday. Let me say that, after several very frustrating days, indeeed the MONARCHS HAVE ARRIVED TO THEIR WINTER HOMELAND IN ANGANGUEO!!!
As you can see in the monitoring graph recording the observations made at "El Cerrito", Monarchs did not really settle at the site this year for a few day as they usually do every year. One, three, five Monarchs was the average seen up to this past weekend. We were having terrible cold, cloudy and rainy weather.
With this last report, we thanked Jocelyn and Roberto for keeping in charge of the graph for over a full month.
Now, within only a few days, I will announce the beginning of our visits to children at the community schools surrounding the Monarch Sanctuaries in our region. Your ambassador butterflies and letters should be arriving any minute now!
Many, many heartful greetings,
Your local reporter,
Estela Romero
With Jocelyn and Roberto
Angangueo, Michocán, México.
 |
 |
| Angangueo Near the two largest monarch sanctuaries. |
Monarch Wintering Sites The region in central México where monarchs overwinter. |
