November 1, 2016

Usually this time of year monarch butterflies start filling the road ways, feasting on the pink cosmos and Mexican sunflowers that spring up along their margins at the end of the rainy season. But on a mid-morning trip to town today, there was no sign of them, even though it was clear sunny day. Every other butterfly was out and about—an abundance of Mexican silverspots, sulphurs and even the majestic Giant White made an appearance, a butterfly so large it looks like a Kleenex has taken flight. The wasps who arrive and depart with the monarchs are already here, pressing their faces against our windows. The bright yellow-orange orioles that devour monarchs have also arrived, squabbling loudly in the tree tops. But no monarchs.

By the time we returned home, clouds were shifting in and out over the valley, and it no longer looked like a good day for monarch flight. I was working inside when I heard excited shouts in the yard.

My husband Joel, brother-in-law Vicente, and our five little nephews were jumping up and down and pointing at the sky. “Monarchs!” And there they were, tiny black specks with furiously pumping wings flying high overhead, headed straight south of us. They started counting all at once. 50! 60! At least a hundred!

But I feared that they were counting the same butterfly more than once in their enthusiasm. I for one was going to do this scientifically, so I ran inside for a timer and then lay down on the grass to stare at the sky. From 4:32-4:36 PM, I counted 22 distinct migrating monarchs. And from 4:36 on, nothing. I seem to have just caught the tail end of this population movement.

My brother-in-law found me still lying in the yard squinting at the now empty sky. He was beaming. “I saw them first!” he exclaimed. “Tell the people that when you make your report.”

And so, for the record, let it be known that butterfly guide Vicente Moreno Rojas spotted the first monarchs to enter Macheros at the beginning of the 2016-2017 butterfly season, whom despite dire predictions about a delayed migration joined us just in time for the Day of the Dead.

Dr. Ellen Sharp
Co-owner, JM Butterfly B&B
Director, Butterflies & Their People, A.C.
Village of Macheros
At the entry of the Cerro Pelón Sanctuary
State of Mexico, Mexico
November 1, 2016