Thanks to Susan Meyers and Trecia Neal of Monarchs Across Georgia for sending this report directly from Mexico. They are leading a trip for teachers and visited two monarch sanctuaries this week, Cerro Pelon and El Rosario. Go on a word hunt as you read:
- Circle words that describe the monarch's behavior.
- Underline
words that describe monarch habitat.
What new things can you learn about monarchs by reading closely?
On Sunday, February 15th, the Monarchs Across Georgia group with participants from Georgia and South Carolina traveled to Sierra Chincua on horseback. We were pleased to see many local families enjoying the beauty of the monarchs. It was a clear sky, sunny day; the temperature was 69 degrees F and the humidity 41%.
Arriving earlier in the day than our last visit, we found much more activity as we made our observations from 2:45 to 3:30pm. We noted nectaring, flying, mating and some puddling in the nearby stream. The location of the colony was exactly the same as our first visit. We only sighted fourteen trees with roosting monarchs because there were so many monarchs in flight. By the position of the sun, we determined that the roosting area was on a west facing slope.
On Monday, February 16th, we traveled to Cerro Pelo via the town of Macheros. Although we arrived before noon, school had already been dismissed as students were preparing for the arrival of an important visitor the next day. A few students and the teacher showed us the banner and the paper mariposas monarcas that they had made as gifts for the Secretary who would be inspecting their school. We delivered to them books donated through our annual Mexico Book Project (See our website for more information).
After our traditional fresh trout lunch at Rosa's complimented by agua fresca de avena (made with oatmeal, cinnamon, sugar and water), we saddled our steeds and rode the dusty rocky trails to the roosting area. With few clouds in the sky, we reached our destination on a north facing slope by 4:00 pm. Here the sounds of monarch wings in flight was overwhelming. We witnessed several cascades and mating pairs. We also noted clusters on both branches and trunks. The temperature was 64 degrees F, the humidity 57%, and our elevation and location was exactly the same as on our first visit.
Our guide Moreno de Jesus Elidio told us that the colony was three hectares in size* and that there had been mortality due to December and January snowfalls and low temperatures. Another guide informed us that the colony had formed in November near the top of the mountain where they remained until January. They have moved down approximately 200 meters since that time.
On Tuesday, February 17th, we drove via Ocampo to the El Rosario Sanctuary which holds the largest percentage of monarchs this season. The skies were overcast, the temperature was 57 degrees F, and the humidity 67%. After ascending 400 steps, and walking through the meadow, we arrived at 2:35 pm to the roosting area of the monarchs. They had not moved since the first time we visited them two weeks ago. Interesting enough, we learned from the local guide, Maria de la lus Gutierres, that in January the monarchs were much lower on the slope, but had been disturbed by the noise and movement by visiting schoolchildren and had moved to their present location. This colony had also experienced mortality due to winter weather conditions in December and January. Apparently, so many monarchs died that they could not allow visitors into the colonies.
Mrs. McCullough from Morgan County Middle School in Madison, GA sends greetings to her students!
* Correction: According to this year's official scientific measurements, the size of the Cerro Pelon colony was only .3 hectares this year, not 3 hectares as stated here.
Monarchs at Cerro Pelon
Children of the Macheros community receiving books donated through our annual Mexico Book Project.
Our guide Moreno de Jesus Elidio told us that the colony
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