April 1 , 2009

I was curious to see how many monarchs remained up in the sanctuaries so I took a trip up to El Rosario last Wednesday. Here are my observations:

In El Rosario there were about 20 trees with a few remaining butterflies and a few flying. There were also a few drinking water from small puddles.

In La Salud, the community beside El Rosario, there were twice as many trees with butterflies and twice as many butterflies on those trees.

At Chincua, I have been told that the Monarchs are too far to be reached from the Chincua side. The butterflies are much closer to Senguio.

Ejidatarios already closed the season at Chincua with a Catholic service up there. Most guides and people cooking and selling up there have left. There are no tourists anymore at El Rosario and the Ejidatarios complain about it.

Up in the sanctuaries temperatures must be reaching 20-24 centigrades at noon time. It is not so hot still as it is in many central parts of the country where temperatures reach 40 centigrades now. (It is too early for such high temperatures here.) On the contrary, we are having cool evenings and cool mornings; it feels like we have a little frost during the nights, too. Our days are very, very sunny, but still not so hot. Temperatures will continue to rise over the coming days.

A few monarchs flying, puddling and and in the trees in El Rosario

Twice as many monarchs were in the trees in La Salud