Monarch Butterflies

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Contributed by Susan Meyers & Trecia Neal
Monarchs Across Georgia

February 19th-20th, 2008

Dear Journey North Kids,
Twenty intrepid travelers piled into German Medina´s open-air truck for a dusty ride up the mountainside to the El Rosario sanctuary on Tuesday. After a delicious blue corn quesadilla lunch at Gloria´s tienda we purchased our tickets and hired a guide and climbed the stairs towards the butterflies.

An hour of walking brought us to the meadow and beyond where we found clusters of Monarchs hanging in the trees like beehives. The "volar de sonido" (sound of flight) was all around us. Butterflies were active, nectaring, but there was not much mating activity occurring. The elevation of this colony was 10,671 feet and the coordinates were North 19 degrees, 36.004 minutes, and West 100 degrees, 15.1818 minutes.

The next day we visited the school in Macheros at the base of Cerro Pelon and presented the students with hundreds of books purchased by our trip participants and donated by Scholastic Mexico. Students were also excited to receive friendship bracelets made by students at Mountain View Elementary School in Johnson City, Tennessee. Just across the street from the school we dined on freshly caught trout at Rosa´s, which was delicious, as usual. We bought our tickets and mounted our horses for the hour plus ride up the steep and rocky slope of Cerro Pelon. Along the way we noticed that small Oyamel and Pine trees had been planted. We were told this was a project funded by the government and that the people of Macheros had planted them. Just 15 days ago the butterflies had moved from the North side of the mountain where they had been for the past four months, to the smaller trees on the south side. They were located at an elevation of 9,876 feet and the coordinates were North 19 degrees, 23.466 minutes, and West 100 degrees, 16.466 minutes. Previously, the butterflies had been located in the same location that they had been for the last eight years.

Unfortunately, these small trees on the south side that they are currently located in are not large enough to protect them from the cold nights, and according to the vigilante we talked to, one-quarter of the butterflies have died from the cold. Interestingly, he says that only the male butterflies have died. They know this because they have examined all the dead butterflies. Why do you think only the male butterflies might be the ones that have died?

• Buenos dias from Laurie Crooks to the students at Stone Mountain Elementary School, Stone Mountain, Georgia.
• Buenos dias from Sukari Clark to the students at of McNair Middle School, Decatur, Georgia.
• Buenos dias from Shirley LeMay to her Third Grade class at Calvin Coolidge Elementary School, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
  

Susan Meyers at Cerro Pelon