Date: 02/19/2009

Number: 1

On Thursday, Feb. 19th, the Arizona group traveled to Sierra Chincua on horseback. My guide Oscar told me he makes the trek up and down the dusty trail twice a day. Elevation was 10,000 feet. It was overcast but sunny. We were on horseback for about 45 minutes to an hour. More and more monarchs were beginning to be seen as we traveled through the forest. We observed nectaring, flying, mating and some puddling in the nearby stream.

Once we arrived, we found many Monarchs roosting in the Oyamel Fir trees. As the sun warmed, various clumps of Monarchs would take flight like a swarm. You could hear the sound that sounded like rustling leaves except it wasn’t leaves – it was Monarchs. It was quite a sound.

Many Monarchs were seen mating. One had to be careful where you stepped. Under the trees where the Monarchs were roosting, many expired Monarchs dotted the ground. One of the guides, Diego Gonzalez, who lived in Tucson, Arizona, for eight years, said many guides look at the dead ones to see if there are any tags. Diego pulled out his wallet to show me the white tags he has recovered so far this season.

This year, many locals are looking for Blue Arizona tags as well. For the 2008 season, participants in the Southwest Monarch Study tagged about 1,541 Monarchs.

We spent little over an hour in this colony. After the horseback ride back to our starting point, we enjoyed a lunch at Olivia’s with traditional tortillas filled with cheese, chicken and salsas.

Sierra Chincua Sanctuary, MIC

Latitude: 19.7 Longitude: -100.3

Observed by:
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