Date: 11/02/2008

Number: 1

Large amounts of monarchs in the air, and lots roosting over night in the larger trees in the La Joya National Park 15km north of the city, where I visited it for the first time this Sunday.

What was interesting to see, was how the butterflies suddenly changed behaviour around 5 pm. Lots passed by before that, flying as always due south, one by one, but suddenly as the sun got lower, they started to communicate in a way, searching for their fellow monarchs, and congretated at a few selected larger oak trees inside the park. They sat down, as on the picture, on the west side of the trees, meaning that the morning sun would not reach them. And more an more kept joining in getting ready for the night. The sun sets at 6 pm here now. It is cold at night, down to 2-3 degrees in the national park mentioned as it is at a considerable altitude of 2600m. The city of Queretaro is at 1900m. You can see some pictures from the park here: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parque_Joya_La_Barreta

Upon leaving the park, we saw this eucaluptus from the picture standing tall in the evening sun loaded with monarchs. It is obvious that they search for the tallest trees.

In and around the city we have had 3 days now (Oct 31-Nov 2)with large amounts of monarchs, yesterday evening a friend observed groups roosting in trees outside his office window downtown. So we definitely see a massive arrival these days. The monarchs are just as fascinating every year as they pass over us.

Editor's Note: This observer did not specify the number of monarchs present. We entered 'one' in the number field only to mark this record for future consideration.

Queretaro, QUE

Latitude: 20.6 Longitude: -99.9

Observed by: Gunnar
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