Your Sightings! >>
Today's Report Includes:
- News: Here Come the Monarchs!
- Slideshow: Spring Migration: A Race Against Time
- Challenge Question #6: Why Quickly But Not Too Quickly?
- Conservation: Satellite Images Show Alarming Deforesation
The Story Behind the Picture >>
The monarchs are definitely on their way! Dr. Bill Calvert reported last night from Angangueo after watching monarchs stream out of the Rosario colony in massive numbers:
"Rosario was breaking up, and we were witnessing its breakup in the arroyo below it...Orange, flying, flapping, gliding creatures filled the forest clearing until we felt we could scarcely breathe. It was astonishing, and marvelous, and a welcome return for me after two years' absence."
As Dr. Calvert passed through Angangueo he saw butterflies pointing northward as they flew. Then came the news 60 miles north of the sanctuary region from the state of Querétaro:
"The monarchs have arrived in Tequisquiapan! At 6 o'clock in the afternoon, I saw a lot of monarchs hovering in a subdivision called Club de Golf. I saw about 100 in 5 minutes," wrote Noami Suss.
The journey north is underway!
Read and listen
to Dr. Calvert's news!
Read and listen to Dr. Calvert's news. >>
Orange, flying, flapping, gliding creatures filled the forest clearing.
>>
Spring migration begins every March in a flurry. The monarchs are in a race against time. They can't stay in Mexico any longer — but they can't move north too quickly either. The timing of their spring migration must be precise. Why do they go now, and how do they know when to leave?
Slideshow >>
This Week's Question:
- Name two reasons monarchs need to leave Mexico quickly in the spring. Name two reasons that should not come north too quickly.
To Respond: Write in your journal and send us your answer for possible inclusion in next week's update.
Answer to last week's question
"It is with great regret that my colleagues and I have to be the bearers of bad news," wrote Dr. Lincoln Brower as he revealed a new satellite image of the monarch winter habitat.
The image shows a major illegal logging operation in the core zone of the monarch butterfly reserve, devastating one of the monarch's 12 winter sites in Mexico. The butterfly site, called "Lomas de Aparicio," is a few km south of the largest overwintering area, "El Rosario." Over 1,100 acres (450 hectares) have been cut since 2004. The Mexican government has failed to enforce the law against logging in this area of the Reserve for at least four years, noted Dr. Brower. >>
The Next Monarch Migration Update Will Be Posted on March 20, 2008.
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