SchoolsEstela RomeroJanuary 21, 2021

Winter at Monarchs' Sanctuaries

SchoolsEstela RomeroJanuary 21, 2021

THE VISIT

Monarchs spend the coldest days of the winter this season at their overwintering spots in Central México, in Sanctuaries “El Rosario” and “Sierra Chincua”, where two from the three largest colonies are located at over 10 thousand feet elevation. However, we are far from having the real winter time we used to have a few years ago. Nowadays, our winters become shorter and milder every year. Our mornings look beautiful frozen, but the sun shall mostly melt all frost by 11 in the morning leaving no trace of the white morning for the rest of the day. We have had several cold, grey, frozen days, promising snow any moment, but next day, in spite of the freezing temperatures the sun rises at the bright, blue sky. So, Monarch butterflies are having a mild winter, with very low levels of humidity, which is not good for them or for the rest of pollinators and insects in general. Last Sunday, a group of children from Angangueo town, whose parents own forest areas close to the overwintering spots to Monarchs, lead by one of their teachers, and impatiently awaiting for their lesson on Monarchs’ life-cycle and migration, asked to meet indoors and get their lesson. It was really exciting to see children’s’ faces realizing the shape of our planet and the idea of us living in a portion of territory called México bordering with another portion of land where a boy or a girl seeing Monarchs breed there, either in Canada or in the United States, had sent a surprise for them symbolizing nature as the promise for the future if we conserve its habitat. “From so far away they have to look for shelter in the winter?”; “I would not be able to live from sweets and water for months as they live from nectar and water while they stay with us!”; “four hundred tiny eggs they Mom Monarchs lay and only a few babies manage to survive?... nooo…”; “and the little Caterpillars grow as big as any of us growing the size of a big bus?, oh, mine, I cannot imagine that!”; “But how does it come that our friends there in the north do not see them clustering as we see them here in our giant Oyamel trees?... what?, they do not have Oyamel tree forests?; “I grow my hens, my roosters and rabbits at home, but it would be impossible to grow some Monarch butterflies too, I see…”; “that is why they come here, and they go there to breed their babies because we do not have the plant caterpillars eat to become Monarchs!... Woooow….”; “we have been there; Monarchs are really close to our farms where we do family picnic days!”; Learning and recognizing the names of some of the trees that surround Monarch butterflies in the forest was really new for the youngest in the group, but recognizing some local fruit trees, was much easier and made lots of fun for them. Their eyes would take a fixed glance every minute to the folder where their Ambassador butterflies were ready to be delivered to them, and the boys, Kevin, José and Angel and the youngest girls, Ana and Sofía, would stretch their little hands very carefully until their fingers could touch and lift the very corner of the front cover of the thick folder as if making sure their Symbolic Monarchs were still there. Such facts were the ones this beautiful group argued and finally cleared up at Estela’s explanation and assistance, letting them know how really old and special our Oyamel forests keep Monarchs warm during these cold days and will keep them fresh as winter starts to get over within only one month. Having their Ambassador butterflies in their hands was a real event since they could not believe they had to take a flight in a plane to say hello to them coming from so far away in the north as real Monarchs!.