It was a great decision to take a break from working on issues of migration of people and spend a day photographing and watching the migration of 20 million monarch butterflies, as they gather in one of several reserves in the Mexican state of Michoacan for the winter. We were lucky, unlike this fellow Fulbrighter, and the day was sunny which meant the butterflies were full in flight, and moving all around us….simply amazing.
The butterflies are so many that you can hear the flapping of their wings as the move around over and under. Anywhere there was water, several thousand would gather sipping from the natural springs that bubbled up at over 10,000 feet above sea level. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my video camera, which I think is the best way to show it, but we were able to put some clips together with Missy’s point and shoot (and with some silly music) put together a video below.
The butterflies stay in Mexico through March, and I highly recommend this to anyone! Thanks to our friends Meghan and Liam for transportation, setting up the whole weekend, and great company….and as usual, Missy’s blog has much more information than mine….
This is LOVELY! Gotta love the Crazy Town cameo.
Sorry if you get this comment 15 times…apparently i’m no good at reading anti-spam words.