Monarchs
Across Georgia
Contributed by Susan Meyers and Kim Bailey
February 28, 2008
Dear Journey
North Kids,
After a late morning breakfast, we traveled by bus to Sierra Chincua for
our last visit to the Monarch colonies this season. The skies were overcast
and the cool breezes that swept across the open field at our parking site
made each of us don a jacket before starting our trek.
As predicted by our guide last week, the colony had indeed moved down slope, no longer an easy twenty minute walk but still a distance that could be easily traversed by foot. The fine dust permeated our shoes and clothing and several of us tied bandanas (in bandito-fashion) on our faces to protect our nostrils.
On either side of
the trail abounded wildflowers of varying hues of yellow, purple and red
but no sign of Monarchs until we reached the clusters hanging in the Oyamels.
The elevation at this point was 9,974 feet and the coordinates were N
190 39.857’ and W 1000 17.246’.
Silence and stillness….then the sun began to break through the cloud
cover and in a matter of minutes, we heard the sound of their flight and
witnessed the skies filling with black and orange. We wondered what a
group of flying butterflies is called…a flutter? a swarm?
Our guide mentioned to us that it was expected that this group of Monarchs would continue to move down the slope another 200 meters as higher elevations became drier and warmer. How long will the Monarchs stay here? Ten years ago, our guide recalled, the Monarchs remained at Sierra Chincua until the first week of April.
We are heading back
to the USA on Saturday, March 1 with the task of preparing our gardens
with milkweed and nectaring plants for the arrival of the Monarchs in
Georgia. Perhaps we will be able to host some of the same butterflies
that we met in Mexico!
Susan Meyers at Cerro Pelon
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